


you could keep me talking

by TFLatte



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Arranged Marriage, F/F, background magjulia, historically inaccurate everything, it's taz if you don't expect anachronisms i don't know what to tell you, kravkeetz is real in my heart and in this fic don't @ me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-07-04 07:55:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15837033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TFLatte/pseuds/TFLatte
Summary: Queen Lucretia and Grand Duchess Lydia couldn't be more different people if they tried, but here they are, with a royal wedding in the works. As far as either of them is concerned, the only thing keeping them from calling the whole thing off is that it could start a war, which is just slightly worse than their impending marriage.Ordinarily, no one would expect much to grow from a political arrangement like this - but then, Lucretia and Lydia aren't exactly ordinary.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> anyway this is like, at least 30% the fault of Kikithehousemoose, who enabled me and beta'd for me and generally was awesome, and also you should go read their fics because they're the best vogue elf writer i've ever met, dead serious

Her Majesty Queen Lucretia looked down at the treaty in front of her. She drummed her fingers on the desk beside it, reading and re-reading the parchment, its neat writing holding the fates of two separate nations in every line. It was more than a little nerve-wracking to have this decision on her desk at last, and to finally have to  _ make _ it. Granted, there had already been months of negotiation (and many near-eruptions of tempers) put into it, and she doubted what was written on these papers was any different than the terms she’d essentially accepted already. Still, she didn’t dare sign without scrutinizing every word and phrase and period. You could never be too careful, not when war threatened. 

A war between Statera and Fames would be disastrous for both sides. Pride could only take you so far when you were facing destruction no matter who won, and both sides knew that. So with that in mind, she’d sat through interminable meetings and negotiations and sessions of shoveling as much advice as could possibly fit into her mind, struggling to maintain a serious, thoughtful expression when all she wanted was to bury herself in absolutely anything else. At least her painting had improved, though, since she’d been pouring every minute of her limited free time into it. It helped to soothe her nerves. 

But the months had passed, however slowly, and the treaty had taken shape, and at long last it was here. It would only be a day or so before the delegation from Fames arrived for the official signing - with the person central to the last part of the agreement. There were few better ways to cement a peace than by connecting both sides, and few better ways to do  _ that  _ then through a marriage. In less than two days’ time, Her Grace the Grand Duchess Lydia would arrive and preparations would begin for her to become Her Majesty Queen Lydia.

Lucretia’s eyes trailed over the final paragraphs of the treaty again. Well, it was already as good as settled. She might not have expected to marry a noble from Fames, but stranger things had happened. Besides, there were worse people to be betrothed to. She’d thanked every lucky star in existence that nobody had suggested she marry King John. With all the respect due to him,  _ no thank you _ . At least the duchess was - well, a  _ duchess _ . And it did take her eventual marriage off the table as far as “things to be solved in the future” went. Even if she knew almost nothing about the duchess, outside of some extremely outlandish rumors that were more suited to a childish fairy tale than reality. Lucretia was fairly certain the duchess didn’t actually have any kind of dark and glamourous magics at her disposal.

Everything was as she’d expected in the document before her, each compromise and concession in place exactly where it should be, and she relaxed a little. Having to refuse it now would be a problem. One she very much didn’t need to deal with right now. So there was that, at least. She took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. One less thing to go wrong, still a thousand others that could.

“Something wrong?” Magnus, sitting in the window seat with one foot propped up on the sill, glanced up from his woodcarving.

Lucretia shook her head, looking over at him - how he managed to make himself so comfortable in full armor never ceased to amaze her. “No, everything’s fine. Just thinking.”

“That’s Luc for ‘I’m freaking out but I don’t want anyone to know about it.’” Magnus twisted the knife, carving out another curve in the block. 

“Do you have to leave wood shavings all over my floor?”

“Well, I mean, you own the place. Everywhere in the castle is your floor. The grounds outside are your floor too. Where am I  _ supposed _ to carve?” Magnus grinned at her, and despite herself, a smile tugged at the corner of Lucretia’s mouth. “Seriously. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Just being romantic again.”

“Ohhh. The marriage thing.”

“Yes. The ‘marriage thing.’” Lucretia shook her head. “It’s fine. I’m sure everything will be fine. Both of us want this to work - I don’t want to go to war, and I can’t imagine she does, so we have good reason to get along. Or at least not kill each other.”

“I feel like this is setting the bar really low.”

“Good. The bar  _ needs _ to be cleared. You’re supposed to keep me from being kidnapped or assassinated, not manage my marriage for me.”

“I can multitask. I’m ambidextrous.”

“That’s not what that word means, and also no you aren’t, but whatever you say.” Smiling, Lucretia shook her head and set the treaty aside. The hardest part was over. After hashing out this agreement, she couldn’t imagine meeting her future wife would present any real challenge.

* * *

Lucretia was definitely not sweating, and she definitely hadn’t gone through half the palace’s stock of her favorite tea trying to calm her nerves. She would maintain that to her grave. The worst part, of course, was that it hadn’t seemed to  _ work _ . Her heart was still pounding, and her stomach still ached with anxiety, fingers twitching in her lap. The dress she’d been laced into for the event was beautiful, flattering, and  _ heavy. _ Everything was mixing into a thick sludge of undefinable  _ mood _ stewing behind her face - though at least that never wavered. There was a reason Magnus had refused to play cards with her since she was fourteen.

The worst of it, she reflected as she sat in the throne room, was that she’d gotten word that the delegation was finally too close for her to do anything useful, or at least interesting, while waiting, but apparently distant enough she still  _ had _ to wait. They  _ should _ have gotten here earlier, but something must have happened.

“You’d think they’d be more in a hurry to get to the palace,” she murmured to Magnus, trying to focus on the bustle below the dais and not everything that could possibly go wrong.

“I don’t know. It’s nice out. The trees are pretty, maybe they want to see more of them.” He leaned against the throne, and she cleared her throat pointedly to nudge him upright again. Not that she really minded - growing up alongside Magnus’ comfortable disregard for formality had actually been kind of nice - but appearances were important, especially for this. She had to make a good first impression, a  _ regal _ impression, and dammit she was going to look the part, personal guard included.

Finally, though, the doors opened to admit a herald, and Lucretia sat ramrod-straight, fingers curled so tight around the armrests of the throne she half expected to leave fingerprints in the gold. As each dignitary entered and was announced, her eyes darted to them and just as quickly moved to the next, searching. It was an irritatingly large party - with one notable exception, they were only going to be here for a few weeks, and the delay was doing nothing to settle her nerves. Why weren’t they the first introduced? Fames didn’t do things  _ that _ differently.

“-His Grace Grand Duke Edward-”oh thank  _ god _ , that was the brother, which meant-“and Her Grace Grand Duchess Lydia.”

The first thought that came to Lucretia was that she was beautiful. She would have been breathtaking even in a peasant dress, that much was clear, but in the exquisite green gown she wore as she swept into the hall? It was hard to look away. Lucretia rose from the throne smoothly, not letting her fluttering stomach show on her face, and descended from the dais to greet the delegation formally. In the back of her mind, she filed each of their names and their responses to her away. It might be useful later, when she was sorting out which of them she might be able to expect difficulties from, but for now... 

Finally she came to Lydia, and allowed herself to relax enough for a small smile as she stepped forward to greet her betrothed. She had to tilt her head back to look her in the eye - she was  _ tall _ , at least a head taller than Lucretia. 

“Your Grace. It is my pleasure to welcome you to my castle. I trust your trip was uneventful?”

Lydia’s eyes, dark and intense, focused on Lucretia for a moment, and as she did Lucretia noted the carnations embroidered into the dress - purple, in thread that seemed to glitter. Lydia looked her up and down not quite subtly enough to go completely unnoticed, but certainly subtly enough that Lucretia wouldn’t dream of commenting. Then she gave just the  _ barest _ hint of a laugh, more a sharp exhalation than anything else, but Lucretia knew what it was regardless. Her gaze returned abruptly to Lucretia’s face as she returned the smile with something that was just barely the right side of a smirk.

“Entirely. Absolutely nothing of note happened.”

Oh.

Well.

Lucretia could recognize a hint when it was dropped on her head like a bucket of ice water. Charming indeed. Suddenly she had her suspicions about their late arrival. 

“It’s quite a relief you’ve arrived at last, we were beginning to worry.”

“Oh, I’m sure you know how it is, your majesty. The horses spooked and our carriage was damaged. Of course once we’d fallen behind, we couldn’t make you wait any longer for our little group to sort itself out, so here we are.” Duchess Lydia smiled, guileless and unrepentant.

Bringing up the rear  _ couldn’t _ have been a problem that took long to sort out, delays or no. Still, this had to work, and she wasn’t going to make a good impression by immediately calling the duchess’ manners - or honesty - into question. She’d just have to also rise above the petty urge to comment on how  _ terribly _ embarrassing it must be to have such ill-trained animals pulling their carriage. No matter how tempting it was to call her bluff. 

“How terrible,” she said instead, studiously maintaining her expression. “I  _ am _ glad you’ve finally graced us with your presence.” It was supposed to be gracious, but Lucretia was pretty sure it came out more strained than she wanted, and she decided in a hurry that a change of subject was necessary. “Well, surely you must be hungry after the journey here, and fortunately with your timing as it was, dinner should be ready.” Suddenly she glad they’d arrived so late. The excuse to reset this whole situation was more than welcome. “The servants will bring your belongings to your rooms. Please, do come and sit.” She turned on her heel and glided away to the dining hall, making brief, pointed eye contact with Magnus as she turned away. He winced sympathetically in response. Maybe this was just an awkward first encounter, though, and dinner would clear it up.

The seating arrangements had, of course, put Duchess Lydia next to Lucretia, at her right hand. She’d hoped to have an opportunity to - well,  _ talk _ to her, learn about her, maybe find something they had in common to at least begin to build a cordial relationship on. Unfortunately, the arrangements also put Duke Edward on Lydia’s other side, and the two of them seemed perfectly happy to chat away without a pause. Lucretia could  _ understand _ that, of course, but she still had to bite down on the frustrated groan that rose in her throat. For the sake of manners, she tried not to eavesdrop, with minimal success.

They were discussing the duchy, which apparently had been having a good year. “The weather of course has been better than usual, I’m sure the harvest will improve-”

“Oh, of course, but you know how collecting it is.” Edward waved dismissively. 

Lucretia opened her mouth to ask about their practices in the Duchy of Felicity, but Lydia was already talking again. “Well, you know how the Marquess is, maybe he’ll give you some advice-”

“It happened  _ one time _ -” Edward grumbled, as Lucretia gave up and shut her mouth. This wasn’t working at all like she’d planned. Turning her face away, she scanned the hall. If she couldn’t get a word in with her own betrothed, she could at least try to focus on something else - like, for instance, the fact that across the room, a servant had just stumbled and spilled half a jug of wine onto a knight. Lucretia watched anxiously as the knight mopped up wine from her tunic, waving the servant away - no shouting, good, thank god, the last thing she needed right now was a scene-

“-esty?” A slight nudge brought her attention back to the table, and she turned her head to realize that Lydia and Edward were both looking at her with unnervingly identical expressions. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Magnus lean back again, just a little - of course. At least one of them had been paying attention - she mentally promised not to tease him at all the next time a spider scared him.

“I beg your pardon, I don’t believe I heard you?” Lucretia smiled politely. Royalty or not, she was only just well-brought-up enough not to kick herself under the table.  _ I look away for thirty seconds and this happens, absolutely unbelievable- _

“I was asking  _ your _ opinion, your majesty,” Lydia smiled sweetly and Lucretia felt her face heat up, barely managing to maintain eye contact. “Surely you’ve considered the question yourself?”

Lucretia wished she’d taken a bite to give herself a second to think. They’d been talking about their duchy, so the question had probably been about some sort of governing practice? Possibly? “Ah - well, I’m - afraid you’ll have to forgive me, I’ve been a bit...preoccupied lately, as you can imagine, and I haven’t had much time for considering.” It was a precarious way to escape and she knew it, but she swayed on the edge of the unexpected conversation and struggled to keep her balance, hoping her fixed smile would help her back to solid ground. 

“Oh, of course.” Lydia’s smile widened. “I’m sure you have all  _ kinds _ of important things to think about the rest of us wouldn’t  _ dream _ of.”

“I - suppose?” Lucretia didn’t know how to  _ answer _ that. Bad enough to have lost track of the conversation like she did, she couldn’t compound it by saying the wrong thing now, and she had no idea what the wrong thing  _ was _ . “I hope dinner is to your liking?” There. That was always a safe topic.

Lydia tilted her head, studying Lucretia, smile unwavering. “To tell you the truth, your majesty,” she said, lacing her fingers together, “we’re not so fond of pheasant.”

Or not. “Oh.” Lucretia cleared her throat. “Well, we can - accommodate that, I imagine, I’ll - pass the information along.” She really wanted this to end, she wanted solitude and quiet and the chance to think everything over in  _ peace _ .

“Of course. How kind of you.” Lydia sat back, looking obscurely amused, and Lucretia had the feeling she’d lost a game she hadn’t known she was playing. If this was how things were going to go after the wedding, she wasn’t entirely sure how she was going to tolerate it. Something was going to have to give, and she was going to have to find out what.

* * *

At least someone had been smart enough to give Lydia and Edward neighboring rooms. After dinner, they almost immediately disappeared together into Lydia’s, where Lydia plopped down on the bed with a huff, immediately crossing her legs and lying back. Edward leaned against the bedpost, looking down at her. “So, that went well.”

“Can you  _ believe _ her?”

“I didn’t know royalty came that small,” Edward said thoughtfully.

“Not  _ that _ \- well, that too, it’s pretty funny, but also, she thinks she’s  _ better _ than me, did you hear her? ‘ _ I’m glad you’ve finally graced us with your presence _ ’, fantastic. Not even  _ subtle _ . I can’t even do witty back-and-forth sniping with someone whose idea of a clever response is... _ that _ .” Lydia kicked her feet up onto the bed, scowling. “ _ And _ she wasn’t even paying attention to me at dinner - and did you see her smirk when I caught her doing it? You could barely pry two sentences out of her.” Edward nodded, humming agreement. “Why did I agree to this in the first place?”

Edward  immediately rattled off “Because two reigning royals getting married is a recipe for disaster, everyone knew the queen prefers women anyway, the title Queen Lydia has an  _ excellent _ ring to it,  _ and _ if there’s a war we  _ and _ Keetz would’ve had to go fight in it, and talk about a waste. Imagine the scars.” He put a hand to his forehead with an exaggerated shudder. 

“...right. I remember. Fine.” Lydia sat up, narrowing her eyes. “Fine. I’m not breaking off the engagement now and starting the war, but I’m her  _ fiance _ , she doesn’t get to treat me like just another noble. Asking about my trip? The dinner? What small-talk bullshit is this? And she has the nerve to pretend she’s not even bothered by anything I say? I’m going to make her crack if it kills me.”

“You know you have to spend the rest of your life here, right?”

“Exactly. If she’s going to be like that the whole time, then either I needle her or I stab her.” She smirked. “Besides, it might even be fun, figuring out how to get a rise out of her.”

* * *

Lucretia sat down heavily, pressing her face into her hands. “ _ Shit _ . Magnus, this is a nightmare.”

Magnus patted her shoulder. “Maybe you’ll get to like her.”

“It’s not going to matter if she doesn’t like  _ me _ ,” Lucretia groaned. “And I  _ want _ to like her! I don’t want to be married to someone I don’t even want to be around! Dinner was  _ awful _ and I feel like I just got out of the lion’s den and is that what I’ll have to deal with for  _ life _ ?”

Magnus sat down next to her. “Well - it’s just the first day-”

“First impressions are  _ important _ , Magnus, you know this, I know you sat through all those diplomacy lessons with me.”

“I was usually thinking about lunch.”

“ _ Magnus _ .”

He waved his hands. “No, seriously, though, maybe give it time? Try to, I don’t know, impress her. Maybe that’ll help fix it?”

“Impress her…” Lucretia leaned back against the wall, tilting her head back thoughtfully. “Maybe. I mean, she gives off this air like she doesn’t think I’m - I don’t know, good enough. Like she’s just not impressed. Maybe if I can show her that I _ am _ , and that I’m a good queen and I can be properly regal, we can at least be friends, if nothing else?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Magnus grinned at her, and Lucretia smiled back, relaxing a little. “Unless…”

“Unless?” Lucretia tilted her head quizzically.

“ _ Unless _ you fall in love instead-”

“You are  _ such _ a  _ romantic _ , Magnus, go tell it to Julia,” Lucretia laughed, pushing him away and shaking her head. “Friends will do. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucretia tries to show her best side. Lydia is not impressed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you griffin for that liveshow and for giving us another brief shining glimpse of my beautiful wonderful fave who I'm so proud of, this chapter is dedicated to you

Holding court in the throne room always felt a bit ostentatious to Lucretia, but she had determined, after several years, that that was basically the point. “Look, I’m the lady in charge, here’s my cool chair and tapestries and things, do you _ really  _ want to waste my time with your petty bullshit.” Impress people into being sufficiently respectful, even if it didn’t always seem to work. Fingers drumming against the armrest, she listened as below the dais, two petitioners argued for her judgement. It was a land dispute, something that none of their own attempts had managed to settle - and it was about who owned a particular lake full of fish, so Lucretia couldn’t even put a stop to it by splitting the land between them to keep things simple and move on with everyone’s life. 

She’d invited Lydia to attend too, hoping to showcase herself in action, ruling fairly and justly, that sort of thing. The kind of thing you generally would  _ want  _ to see in your betrothed, right? To her frustration, though, it didn’t seem to be working - she didn’t even seem to  _ have _ Lydia’s attention. The Duchess and Duke were busy murmuring to each other. 

Looking over out of the corner of her eye, Lucretia caught a glimpse of Lydia glancing over at her and then back to Edward, and she read the word “dress” on her lips. Lucretia’s own lips tightened - there was no call to poke fun at her  _ dress _ , of all things. She paid good money for the very best. Granted, she  _ owned _ a few dresses that she privately didn’t like and never wanted to wear - even receiving gifts had its politics to manage. But she’d worn a favorite of hers today, one with a layer of sheer cloth that made it look almost iridescent - surely there couldn’t be any fault to find there? Then again, she certainly had  _ something _ to say, and Lydia seemed very adept at finding faults.

“Enough,” Lucretia finally cut in, holding up a hand. The petitioners fell silent immediately. “We have heard all that is necessary.” She lowered her hand again. “This has gone on quite long enough. Our decision has been made. The land rightfully belongs to Lord Lorramor. Lady Alinit will cede her claim to the lake and its contents. There shall be no more contesting of this ruling.” The formality felt a little strange on her tongue, but it was necessary. Usually she wasn’t  _ quite _ so rigid, even when she was holding court, but the whole point of today was to show herself being regal.

Lorramar grinned, bowing deeply. “I thank you, Your Majesty, you are as just as you are wise.” Lucretia resisted the impulse to roll her eyes with difficulty, though she heard a quiet snort from Magnus beside her and spared a moment to wish she could afford such a display herself. 

Alinit curtsied with graciousness, if not nearly as much pleasure. “As you command, Your Majesty. I withdraw my claim.”

Lucretia nodded. “You may both avail yourselves of our hospitality overnight, if you wish, before you return to your own lands.”

Edward turned his head to whisper to Lydia again. “Lord Lorramar’s lake, say that five times fast.” He smirked. 

“ _ God _ , this is boring. I mean, yeah, I’ll give her the fancy dress, she has good taste in  _ that _ , but - yeesh. Does she have a thesaurus stuffed up her skirt?  _ Avail yourselves _ .” Lydia rolled her eyes, head turned so only Edward would see. “We get it, you want to prove you’re smarter and more powerful than everyone, move  _ on _ .”

“Just imagine - once you’re  _ married _ you can cause all kinds of chaos if you don’t like the petitioners’ faces.”

Lydia smirked. “Why no, Lord Loudmouth, the lake doesn’t belong to you, and how dare you suggest otherwise - oh, what was that, darling, you think it does? Oh, how  _ embarrassing _ -”

Both of them stifled snickers that didn’t go quite unnoticed, and when Lucretia looked down Lydia deliberately looked up and stared directly at her, holding eye contact until the herald announcing the next arrival made Lucretia look away.

* * *

 “So, maybe that didn’t go like you hoped, but hey, you’ve just eliminated one more thing that doesn’t work!”

Lucretia pinched the bridge of her nose. “Okay. Okay. This  _ will _ work. It has to. I can  _ make _ it work.”

Magnus patted her shoulder. “Maybe it’ll work better if you two are somewhere private? I could get you ‘accidentally’ stuck somewhere together-”

“You can stop right there is what you could do. You are not locking us in a closet.”

“I didn’t say a closet.”

“You were working up to it.”

Magnus cleared his throat. “Well, anyway - maybe if you start giving her presents?”

Lucretia grimaced. “That’s...the last resort, I think, if we really, really can’t stand each other. I don’t like the idea of buying someone’s friendship, least of all my own wife, and that’s what I’d feel like I was doing.” She shook her head. “No. I just have to keep at this. I can make this work. I  _ will _ .”

“Well, if you need someone to, you know, jam a lock or something-”

“ _ Magnus _ .”

* * *

“It’s not that I’m worried about _ him _ , exactly, I’m just a little worried that I’ll get home and he’ll have redecorated everything I like in black.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have replaced his entire wardrobe with canary yellow.”

“You  _ encouraged _ that!”

“And you should know better than to listen to me. You’d think after twenty years you would’ve learned.”

“You are a traitor to our good name.”

“Absolutely. Hey, look.” Lydia nudged Edward as Lucretia emerged from around a corner ahead of them, saying something to Magnus and followed by a few nobles Lydia wasn’t familiar with, except as members of the rotating cast who trailed around after their queen. Lydia rolled her eyes - did she  _ ever _ go anywhere without them? She had no room to talk about ego and she knew it, but come on. This was just tacky. At least there were only a couple today trying to get her attention. 

Head turned away, out of the corner of her eye Lydia saw Lucretia glance in their direction. The queen immediately looked back at Magnus, and Lydia heard her start up. “So, that last meeting with the ambassador tomorrow, about the treaty-”

“Oh, here we go,” Lydia muttered to Edward. “Look at me, I’m all royal and important and in important political meetings and you’re not, how does that make you feel.”

“So don’t look. If she wants attention, she has all those people who follow her around all day for that. Just keep talking.”

“Of course. We have very important business, can’t be interrupted for anything, not even royalty,” and both of them snickered, striding right past the little group without slowing down or even looking in its direction.

Then Lydia spotted a window seat and a smirk spread across her face. “Oh,  _ I  _ have an idea.” Edward followed her gaze and grinned. As they approached the seat Lydia put a hand to her head. “I feel  _ faint _ ,” she announced breathlessly. She took another step and then let herself collapse, landing on the cushions with just enough of a noise to get everyone’s attention

“Lydia!” Edward gasped loudly. Not to be outdone, he caught her hand, pretending not to notice the others hurrying towards them. “Lydia, what’s wrong?” She didn’t respond, busy keeping the smirk off her face as footsteps rushed towards the seat.

“What happened?”

“Is she ill?”

“She was just saying she felt faint - oh, I hope she’s alright, how  _ terrible _ -”

“Call a doctor,” she heard Lucretia saying to someone nearby, and felt the warm glow of smugness rising in her chest. 

“Move back, please, give her some air-”

Lydia sighed gently, eyes fluttering open. “Oh - what happened? I feel strange…”

Edward patted her shoulder solicitously. “Don’t move, sister, the doctor’s coming.” He was laying it on a little thick, in Lydia’s opinion, but the nobles clustered around were just eating it up.

“I’m  _ so _ sorry,” Lydia said, putting a hand to her forehead. “All of a sudden I was just so  _ overcome _ , I don’t know what it was.”

“It must be such an  _ overwhelming  _ time for you, poor dear,” said one noble, an older woman with some incredibly gaudy rings. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Lucretia leaning to one side to see past her taller subjects and side-eye the noblewoman, and she dropped her head to smother a laugh. 

“I’m afraid so,” Lydia admitted demurely. “I’ll be alright, really, there’s no need to fuss over me-” _ but you should anyway _ .

“Nonsense,” Edward protested, “you _ fainted _ , Lydia, at least wait for the doctor - please, we’d hate to keep you all from your business,” he added. “Go on, I certainly won’t leave her.”

“Are you sure?” Magnus looked between them, worried. “If you passed out-”

“I’ll manage,” Lydia fanned herself with one hand. “Really, I’m sure you have _ important _ things to do,” she made deliberate eye contact with Lucretia, noting her frown, “I wouldn’t want to interfere with your work.” 

As if on cue, the doctor finally arrived, ushering concerned nobility out of the way to see to Lydia, who watched them disperse. Lucretia lingered for another few moments, watching them, and Lydia let her see just a hint of her grin before Her Majesty finally withdrew too.

With the doctor’s back turned, Lydia and Edward traded smirks. “A job well done,” Edward mouthed, and Lydia preened.

* * *

Lucretia was standing at the beginning of a winding stone path, turning a blossom of honeysuckle between her fingers as she admired it, waiting and half-listening to the conversation going on around her as she did. It was a beautiful day, the height of spring, and she’d had the idea to take advantage of the opportunity that presented. Hopefully Lydia didn’t suffer from any kind of pollen allergy. She hadn’t thought about that when she’d sent a servant to bring her to the gardens.

She didn’t have much time to dwell on that oversight, though - footsteps approached, and she turned to meet them. “Your Grace - ah, welcome,” she nodded a greeting to Duke Edward as well, who she definitely did not recall inviting, but she wasn’t about to say anything in front of people. “I’m glad you could join me.”

“Your Majesty. So kind of you to invite us.” There was just the subtlest emphasis on  _ us _ .

Lucretia just nodded, refusing to rise to that. “Of course. I thought perhaps you might enjoy a tour of my gardens - they are very pleasant to walk through this time of year, and the weather today is lovely.”

“Well, I’m sure we can spare the time,” Lydia remarked, gliding past the rest of the group and stopping just short of passing Lucretia too. “Lead on.”

Okay, that was - not an ideal start, but Lucretia could work with it, she was pretty sure. She started walking, mindful of the path - they were built wide, to accommodate the large skirts Lucretia preferred, but Lydia seemed to think along similar lines with her clothing, and she didn’t want either of them to trail their dresses in the dirt. Lydia was oddly silent as Lucretia took to pointing out particularly beautiful flowerbeds, and every time Lucretia looked back at her, she found Lydia watching her with unnerving intensity and had to look away and direct attention to another patch of greenery instead. 

“You certainly have a... _ wide _ variety of plants here,” Duchess Lydia finally observed. 

“That would be the work of my head gardener, Merle - a good friend of mine, as it happens.”

“Oh? Were you planning to introduce us?”

“I’m afraid he had some - business to attend to outside the castle. Insect problems, I believe,” Lucretia said, because there was no way in  _ hell _ she was going to say “He’s off somewhere for “personal time” and I would rather abdicate my crown here and now than interrupt or even know whatever the  _ fuck _ it is he does with his plants in private” out loud, with her actual mouth, in front of Lydia(and her brother, did they  _ ever _ go anywhere separately, was he just going to stay here forever now, had she misread some fine print somewhere and wound up with two fiancees).

The duchess raised an eyebrow slightly, pinning Lucretia under her gaze. “Is that so?”

“Unfortunately so. He enjoys going out into the fields to bring a touch of Pan’s power to the crops now and then.” That much was true, at least, and Lucretia held Lydia’s gaze determinedly.

“I see. Well, I’m sure he does the best work he can,” she said after a long, slightly uncomfortable few moments. Now it was Lucretia’s turn to raise an eyebrow in silent question. “Certainly he must work very hard to maintain them.”

“Merle does excellent work,” Lucretia said, a hint of defensiveness entering her voice before she schooled herself back to calm. “We are very proud of the gardens.”

“Oh, as you should be, your majesty, they’re quite pleasant.” Lydia smiled sweetly, and Lucretia’s guard immediately went up. “They could almost compare to our gardens back home, though we  _ are _ a little more...focused in  _ our _ choices.”

“Absolutely,” Edward put in, smile matching Lydia’s. “Felicity is famous for its flora, in fact - we’ve produced just the most impressive lilies you’ve ever seen. Surely you’re familiar with Felicity lilies?”

“I...can’t say I’m overly fond of lilies, I’m afraid.” Lucretia managed. “They’re lovely, of course, but - a little sad, for my tastes. Funeral flowers, after all, you know.”

“Of course.” Lydia nodded. “Well, they’re not our only specialty - we grow quite a bit of belladonna, you know.”

“Oh - well, those are, ah, beautiful plants as well?” Lucretia cleared her throat. Growing deadly poison sounded like an - _ interesting  _ choice of things to brag about, and vaguely concerning to boot. “I’m sure your gardens are quite impressive.”

Lydia’s smile widened. “Oh, yes. But yours are very nice too,” she added, so guilelessly Lucretia  _ knew _ she was toying with her, and she suppressed a sigh. Chalk up another failure, then. And she’d been so pleased with herself for the idea, too.

* * *

“Well, that was fun!”

“I thought the belladonna was a nice touch. And the staring.”

“Wasn’t it? I think that comment actually got through, too. Just a little.” Lydia grinned. “ _ Felicity lilies _ . She fell for it so hard I thought she’d hurt herself.”

Edward shrugged, speaking only just casually enough to be a joke. “I mean, nightshade’s not that hard to get hold of. Even I could do it, you know, just for example. Like if someone wanted to know all their options-”

“Of course.” Lydia rolled her eyes, smirking. “Although someone would have to keep in mind how much the word “assassin” upsets people, if they  _ were _ interested. It would have to be a last resort.”

“Just saying,” Edward singsonged. “It’s worth knowing, anyway.”

“I wonder what’s going on with that gardener friend of hers. She was definitely lying about where he was.”

“That  _ was _ a classic look-you-dead-in-the-eye lie.”

“It would’ve been a good one if she hadn’t tried it on  _ us _ .”

“...Well, now I  _ have _ to find out.”

* * *

“I think it went better this time,” Magnus offered, and Lucretia buried her face in a pillow to muffle a frustrated groan.

“I don’t  _ understand _ her! There has to be  _ something _ I’m missing, some way to get through to her. Everything I try just - it’s like talking to a  _ wall _ , except the wall looks at me like I just said the most ridiculous thing imaginable but it’s too polite to say anything! And I don’t know, maybe I  _ did _ !”

“Come on, she’s not  _ that _ bad-”

“She’s  _ infuriating _ ! It is  _ so hard _ not to say something! And the worst part is, I really think I could like her if she’d give me half a chance! She’s obviously smart, and she’s good at talking to people, she just - I don’t know, thinks nothing I do is good enough for her! I’m the  _ queen _ , this shouldn’t be so  _ hard _ !” Lucretia squeezed the pillow tight. “What am I doing  _ wrong _ ?”

* * *

“You know,” Lydia said reflectively, “it really is too bad she’s like that.”

“Hm?” Edward tipped his head back from where he was sprawled on the bed, legs up against the headboard and hands folded behind his head.

“We’d probably get along if she wasn’t so...stuck-up. She has that look like she could ruin your life if you pissed her off. ...I mean, she  _ can _ , obviously, but she  _ looks _ the part too.”

“Apparently she’s harder to actually piss off than you expected, though.”

“I’ll get there. She can’t  _ actually _ be that much of an ice queen.” Lydia grinned. “It’ll be  _ amazing _ when she finally snaps.”

* * *

“Maybe you just need to keep trying. There’s gotta be some way to get through to her.”

“Does there? Maybe she’s just like this all the time, forever, and this is my life now.”

“You don’t actually think that.”

“I might as well.” Lucretia pressed a hand to her face with a sigh. “I  _ can _ deal with this, probably, but god knows I don’t  _ want _ to. But  _ she’s _ apparently having fun taking little stealthy jabs at me all the time. Which...I  _ guess _ is better than her wanting to call it off? Marginally?”

“It gives you more chances to get to her.”

“Right. Yes.” Lucretia took a deep breath. “Okay. I can do this. It has to work and I am _ not _ going to be the one responsible for it not working. No matter how much she pushes. It’s going to work if I have to...I don’t know, cloister myself in my office all day every day for the rest of my life.”

“Uh, hold off on that for now. I think the problem might be that you’re doing all this stuff publicly? I know it’s hard for you to get away from people, but maybe you just need some time where it’s just the two of you-”

“Magnus, if you lock us in a closet together, I  _ will  _ have you executed, regardless of what Davenport will say-”

“No, no! Although I still think that’s on the table. I was thinking more like - a private dinner kind of thing. You know, so you have a chance to talk without a ton of people around you. It might work better than what you’ve been doing.”

Lucretia opened her mouth, then paused and shut it, looking thoughtful. “...You know, I  _ have _ mostly been doing things with the usual group of...people around me.” She rolled her eyes. “Maybe you’re right. It’s at least worth a try,” she added, sighing.

“That’s the spirit!” Magnus grinned. “Trust me, I’m sure it’ll work. Julia and I really fell for each other once we started meeting up away from the smith’s and started going off together.”

Lucretia rolled her eyes, fighting a smile. “Yes, well, we can’t all be so lucky-”

“I don’t see why not.”

“- _ but _ if worst comes to worst in that case I can at least privately talk to Lydia about being civil to each other so nobody has to get stabbed. I’m pretty sure we don’t need to be in love with each other to agree that a war would be bad.”

“Yup.” Magnus paused. “But you’re definitely gonna fall in love-”A pen bounced off his ear and he laughed under Lucretia’s glare.

* * *

It took longer than Lucretia liked to rid herself of the usual group of followers after lunch, all trying to get her attention and assistance with some pet project or other, and in the end she had to call in a favor from Magnus to extract herself without drawing too much attention. The whole  _ point _ of this was to get a chance to talk to Lydia privately, and extending the invitation with a whole bunch of other people just around the corner felt like an invitation to eavesdropping. At least once she escaped the group it was easy to avoid the occasional individual she encountered as she looked for the Duchess, and she could relax a little and plan out exactly what to say.

A few servants she found were able to point her in the right direction, and finally she found Lydia and Edward where they sat in a window seat overlooking the city below. She was just about to clear her throat and announce her presence when they looked up in perfect unison - Lucretia wished she knew how they did that, and suspected it was deliberate - and watched her approach. She stopped beside them and nodded politely. “Your Grace. I wonder if I might have a brief word with you?”

“That sounds like quite a number of words already, Your Majesty,” Lydia returned, and Lucretia faltered, trying to decipher if that was supposed to be serious or a joke. 

“Ah - I had hoped to speak with you privately for a moment, actually-”

“Speak away.” Lydia blinked innocently up at her from her seat. “Your usual escort  _ does _ seem to be absent.”

“I - well, yes, I did ask Magnus to give me a moment, but-”

“Oh, no, I meant the half-dozen or so people always following you around, actually.”

“The ones you always have there if you need something,” the Duke put in. 

“Oh.” Lucretia cleared her throat. “Well, I did step away from them for a time, yes,” not that she minded doing it at all. Trying to talk to Lydia was hard enough without being so keenly aware of being watched throughout the conversation - although Edward’s presence, now that she thought about it, may have made the whole thing moot.

“Of course.” Lydia smiled mysteriously. Lucretia tried to get her thoughts back on track, but as she did Lydia rose abruptly, pushing Lucretia back a step to keep their skirts from catching on each other. “Well, as  _ flattering _ as it always is to speak with you, I’m afraid we have to be going. I’m tired, and I think it’s time I turn in.”

“I - oh.” Lucretia blinked, stepping back again to give her room. “I apologize, I hadn’t realized-”

Lydia swept past her, Edward circling around Lucretia’s other side to follow her. “Of course. Good night, Your Majesty.”

“Good night-” Lucretia’s eyes widened in sudden realization, and she opened her mouth to speak, but Lydia paused and turned around, fixing her with a smirk that stopped the words in her throat.   
“Oh, that reminds me - we’ll have dinner in the red dining room, tomorrow night. See you then,” she purred, and then she was gone around the corner before Lucretia could say anything else, leaving her staring and still reeling, until she shook herself, turned around, and hurried away.

* * *

“I can’t believe her, I had it all planned out and she just - throws it all out the window-”

“By...suggesting dinner when you forgot to do it yourself?”   
“ _ Suggesting _ isn’t really the word I’d use for it,” Lucretia grumbled.

“Yeah, but I mean, isn’t this what you wanted? You went to ask her to have dinner with you, she said she’d have dinner with you. Done.”

“Yes, but I was supposed to do the asking! That was the whole point!”

“I thought the point was for you two to get together and try to figure things out?”

Lucretia opened her mouth, then stopped and glared at him. “Why are you only ever reasonable when _ I  _ want to be unreasonable? The rest of the time it’s rushing into things and eating rocks-”

“In my defense, it  _ looked _ like a brownie and I thought I’d dropped it.”

“That’s because it was covered in dirt. Because it was on the ground. Full of dirt-”

* * *

“I think that’s the most off-balance I’ve ever seen the ice queen.” Edward was sprawled across an armchair in Lydia’s room, heedless of the wrinkles he was putting in his coat.

“The trick is to use manners against her.” Lydia kicked her slippers off and went directly to the wardrobe, sliding hangers back and forth as she examined the gowns they held. “Hey, did you ever find out what the deal was with her gardener?”

Edward froze, giving her a haunted look. “Oh, you had to ask, didn’t you?”

“That sounds juicy.”

“Don’t ask,” he said hollowly. “Just...you don’t want to know. You think you do, but you don’t.”

Lydia stared at him for a second, then shook her head. “Okay then.”

A few minutes went by as Edward recovered from whatever flashbacks he was having. “So, got any plans for dinner yet?”

“Oh, I’m working on them. I have all day tomorrow to come up with gems, after all. I’d hate to waste my good material now.” Lydia considered a pair of dresses, then tossed one back into the wardrobe and held the other up against herself. “I’ll tell you everything afterwards.”

“I’m just surprised you went for it so quickly. I figured you’d jerk her around a little more. Make her come looking for you at least twice before you agreed to anything.”

“Are you kidding?” Lydia dropped into a chair, propped her feet up on the vanity and smirked, carefully selecting from an array of makeups and laying them out. “This is the  _ perfect _ opportunity to find out what Her Majesty is  _ really _ made of. I can’t  _ wait _ .”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter fought me a lot, but it'll all be worth it for next chapter. I can't wait.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner goes about as well as could really be expected.

Lucretia paced the length of the table - not much of a distance, it wasn’t meant for anything beyond small private dinners like the one she was preparing for. She kept winding her hands into her skirts, wishing she’d brought a pen and paper to occupy herself with as she waited.

“What if this goes wrong?” she blurted out to Magnus, who was sitting on the edge of the table. “What if I say the wrong thing and offend her and ruin it?”

“I’m not sure you could ruin it. I mean, the whole point of this is because she doesn’t like you anyway. How much worse can it get?”  
“I could give you an itemized list of how much.” Lucretia pressed her hands to her face. “This is _so stressful_ and I hate it and there are so many ways this can go wrong.”

Hands on her wrists gently pulled her hands away from her face. “Yeah,” Magnus said, smiling at her, “but there’s also a bunch of ways it can go right. Right?”

“...Yeah. I guess that’s true,” Lucretia said after a moment.

“Of course it is. So you’re gonna be fine, and everything’s going to go great, and she’s gonna fall for you-” Lucretia huffed irritably and Magnus grinned. “And it’s gonna be awesome. Okay? Just - try to relax, already.” Magnus gave her a thumbs up.

“...Right.” Lucretia took a deep breath. “Okay. I’ll try.”

“There you go. You got this.”

“That’s debatable. Hey, is it dark in here?” Lucretia went to the window. “Does it look like rain to you?”

“Does it matter? You’re eating inside.”

“Yes. Also true. Okay.” Lucretia took another breath and smoothed down her skirts again. “Okay. She’ll be here soon. You’d better go.”

“If I do, are you going to panic and climb out the window?”

“I’m not thirteen anymore, thank you very much, now _out_.” Lucretia shooed Magnus out the door. Once he was gone, she went back to the table, taking deep breaths to compose herself. By the time the doorknob turned, she’d managed to calm down. Mostly. But she figured she could be forgiven for still being a little nervous.

The door opened to admit Lydia, in a dress that could have qualified as another individual all on its own. Still, she wore it well, moving with a grace that Lucretia couldn’t help but admire, despite everything. Her eyes landed on Lucretia, with another subtle once-over and faint smirk before she inclined her head in greeting. “Your Majesty.”

Lucretia resisted the urge to wince. Formal titles never seemed to bode well with Lydia. “The formality is unnecessary, Duchess. Please, sit.” As she took her own seat, she hoped it was just an awkward start. This was practically the first time she’d been around Lydia without her brother present, so maybe she’d be more pleasant in private.

Lydia sat with all the grace she could muster, immediately crossing her legs under the expansive dress as she settled and aiming for just enough casualness to be disconcerting. If Lucretia was going to pretend she didn’t want to be formal, Lydia would be happy to oblige. Lacing her fingers together, she propped her elbows on the table and fixed Lucretia with an unblinking gaze. She was rewarded by seeing Lucretia look back at her expectantly, waiting, then falter slightly. The silence stretched for awkward seconds that Lydia counted with private delight, and it was an effort to continue looking innocent.

To her disappointment, just as Lucretia was opening her mouth to finally break the silence, she was beaten to the punch. The door opened and a servant came through. Lydia glanced over, then looked back at Lucretia just in time to catch it as her eyes widened. It only lasted for a second before she was back to the usual calm demeanor, but it made Lydia smirk anyway. Now _that_ was interesting. What could have the ice queen looking nervous?

“Hi, I’m Robbie, I’ll be serving your dinner tonight.” Oh, _there_ it was. Lydia was instantly delighted. Lucretia could _not_ have picked this guy, that was for sure, she would’ve picked someone who would be very proper and not talk at all. The man came up to the table and put down a pair of wineglasses in front of them, then immediately began pouring. Lydia looked at Lucretia, raising an eyebrow pointedly, and Lucretia steadfastly watched the wine being poured and didn’t look back. No luck yet. That was fine. Lydia liked a challenge, and she’d known Lucretia was going to be one since the first day.

“And I’ll be right back with your food, it’s gonna be great,” Robbie seemed completely oblivious to any inappropriate behavior as he left the room, the sound of whistling floating back as the door closed. Oh, this was going to be fun.

Lucretia finally looked back at Lydia. “I hope your accommodations are to your liking?” Ah, so they were starting at the small talk part of the evening. Nothing new there. “I understand you and your brother spend a considerable amount of time in your chambers.”

“Oh, you know how it is - or - well, I suppose you don’t.” Lydia smiled sweetly. “It’ll be such a shame when he goes home without me.”

“Of course. I’m sure you’ll miss him.” Lucretia took a sip of wine.

“Terribly. I’ll be _so_ worried about how he’s managing all on his own.”

“I - thought you had a second brother?”

“Oh, yes, but we’ve never been separated, you know. Not since we were just babes in arms.” Lydia used the wineglass more to gesture with as she talked than to drink from, amusing herself watching Lucretia’s eyes dart to it as she kept narrowly avoiding spilling the drink. Please - as if she’d get this dress dirty.

The door opened again, Robbie entering with a plate balanced on each hand. Despite herself, Lydia sniffed appreciatively - Lucretia had some _good_ cooks in her kitchens, so ice queen or not, that was a plus to this deal.

“Alright, dinner is served!” As he headed for the table, the plates began to tip, the stuffed chickens beginning to slide. Lydia had just enough time to see what was going to happen and pull her skirts out of the way. Robbie’s hold on a plate slipped and it crashed down, spilling stuffing across the floor. Lucretia yelped, recoiling, and she stared in open dismay at the dented silverware spinning on the stones.

“Oops - shit - oh shit I’m not supposed to swear in front of you-”

“Just!” Lucretia sat ramrod-straight, voice high and resolutely not looking at the floor again. “Just - get that cleaned up, please.” She shifted, tugging on her skirt like she was trying to hide it under the table. Leaning over just a little as Lucretia wasn’t looking, Lydia noticed food splattered along the hem. No wonder she’d looked like that when she saw him arrive.

“Yeah, definitely-”Robbie started to hurry away, then looked at the plate in his other hand. “Wait, I have this one too-”He spun around and this time Lydia wasn’t able to move in time before the second plate fell. This one cracked in half on impact and left her skirts with a new pattern of chicken and herbs all over them. She looked up in time to catch Lucretia with a hand over her mouth in open horror before she turned back to Robbie.

“Get someone to come clean this up, _now_ ,” she said sharply, and he hurried out. Lucretia turned back to Lydia, getting to her feet. “I am so, _so_ sorry, I didn’t know - I didn’t think - oh, never mind, I’m sorry, what a disaster - look, you can go back to your chambers, I’ll send someone with a new plate, one that’s not broken. I didn’t need to specify that, I don’t know why I did-”It was like a dam had broken. For once, Lydia couldn’t even bring herself to needle her. She stood up, noting Lucretia’s wince as she glanced back at the soiled skirt and she hurried on. “I’ll send someone to get your dress and clean it, of course, I’m sure it’ll all come out, I’m-”

“Sorry, yeah, I got that.” Lucretia shut her mouth as Lydia shook her head. Well, she’d wanted to get under her skin, but she couldn’t even take credit for this one, and that annoyed her. She’d expected to get a reaction in the form of Lucretia finally getting angry, not babbling apologies.

“I-” She cleared her throat. “...yes. I’ll - go get someone to come to your room to take the dress once you’ve changed.” She took a step towards the door and on a whim Lydia spoke up.

“I’m surprised you didn’t get rid of him on the spot.” She nodded towards the door.

Lucretia looked briefly confused. “Robbie? I’m not sure what you mean.”

“He did just throw dinner all over both of us.”

“He didn’t _throw_ it,” she protested. “I don’t know why he was the one who came to serve dinner, honestly, but it was an accident.” She paused, then frowned a little, thoughtful. “Actually, come to think of it - I might know why, and if I’m right, I’ll have words with the person who put him up to it - but regardless. This won’t happen again.”

Lydia gave her a long look, considering. That defense hadn’t been what she’d been expecting from a woman who played aloof like a champion with everyone around her, not after _this_ disaster. “...Well, you’re the boss,” she said finally. “So...I’m _not_ letting everyone in this castle see me walking around covered in my own dinner when I didn’t even get to _eat_ any of it. You wouldn’t happen to have any secret passages hiding in the walls, would you? Portraits that swing open into secret doors, maybe?”

Lucretia blinked, and something that looked almost like a smile flitted across her face, but then it smoothed out as she straightened up. “Unfortunately, no, but at this time of evening the gardens should be mostly empty. If you go through them, you should be able to avoid most, ah - eyes.”

Great. Back to _this_. Lydia’s face shuttered. “Right. And how, exactly, am I supposed to find my door?”

“...I can show you the path.”

“ _Great_ .” Maybe she could get in one last opportunity, then. She picked up the wineglass and drained it in one shot. “Lead the way, your Majesty.” Lucretia didn’t answer that, just looked away and started walking. Lydia sauntered after her - the door they went to wasn’t far, and though she could swear she saw _someone_ duck around a corner at one point, there wasn’t anyone else on their way. They emerged out into the gardens and Lucretia led her a few steps down the stone path, then pointed. “If you follow this path, it will take you to a door just north of your chambers.” Lydia looked out in the dimming light as Lucretia went back to the door, and she only looked back when she heard a rattle. Lucretia was just standing there, looking at the door with her hand on the handle.

“What is it?”

“It’s locked.”

“How can it be locked? We just came through it.” Lydia, rolling her eyes, stepped over and went to open the door. The knob rattled again but wouldn’t turn. Then Lucretia frowned.

“ _Magnus_ ,” she muttered irritably. “I’ll have to-”

Lydia didn’t wait for her to finish. “Why is it so dark out? The sun shouldn’t have finished setting yet.” She looked up, and Lucretia followed her gaze to dark clouds gathering overhead. “...Oh.” They looked at each other, and then the heavens opened up.

Lydia covered her head with her arms, trying the door again, but a hand caught her arm. “This way!” Lucretia called over the rain, and then she gathered up her skirts and ran down the path. Lydia followed, suddenly wishing she’d picked a dress that was a little easier to move in - but it _looked_ good, and how could she have known she’d need to run anywhere? At least her shoes hadn’t tripped her on the slippery stone path yet, but she didn’t know how long that would last.

Lucretia darted off the path and led the way down a latticed wood pathway that Lydia hadn’t seen before, running full tilt towards what looked like a solid clump of greenery. She skidded to a stop just before barreling straight into it and pushed aside a clump of hanging ivy, urging Lydia on, and as she passed Lucretia the rain stopped beating down on her. Lucretia ducked under the overhang after her, letting the ivy fall back into place as Lydia took another step, looking around.

Lucretia had brought her to, apparently, the ugliest garden she owned. It was surrounded by a simple, open wooden colonnade that shielded them from the rain, and _that_ looked nice enough, covered  as it was in hanging ivy. The few baskets that hung from the roof clearly hadn’t been touched in years, though, and in the center there was a riotous, overgrown sprawl of tangled weeds that filled up every part of the little garden that must get sun. On one side, there was an old wooden bench, covered in leaves and fallen pieces of plants Lydia couldn’t identify. There was a reason this place hadn’t been a stop on the tour. Raising an eyebrow, she looked back at Lucretia, waiting for an explanation, or more apologies, or _something_.

What she got, though, was Lucretia not looking at her, looking instead at the mess in the middle of the garden, and - a smile. A real smile, not the polite one she’d seen flashed at every diplomat that talked to the queen. Her face softened as she looked around, catching her breath and wiping rain out of her face with one hand.

“What a mess,” she murmured, half to herself. “I didn’t think it would get like _this_.”

Lydia cleared her throat, and it didn’t come out quite as pointedly as she’d planned it to. “Are you planning to tell me what ‘this’ is?”

Lucretia, apparently remembering Lydia was there, looked up at her again. “It’s my garden - that is, Magnus’ and mine. When we were younger, it was our place, where we’d spend most of our time, once we finished our lessons or training.”

Lydia raised an eyebrow, looking Lucretia up and down, then over at the plants again. “I can see this being Magnus’ kind of place.”

“It used to be nicer,” Lucretia said defensively. “And it was a compromise, for the two of us. I never liked running around as much as he did, and he never liked to sit and read as much as I did. We had to figure _something_ out for us to do when we couldn’t agree on anything, and Merle suggested this.” She reached out to lift a vine in one hand for a better look, then let it slide out of her grip and fall back into position. “It worked better than anything else we tried, so. This was ours. It was nice.”

Lydia studied her face, frowning, and - okay, look, obviously she knew Lucretia was beautiful, she had _eyes_. But seeing her soaked through, dripping rain from her hair and her dress and looking somehow off-guard for the first time since they’d met - that was different than seeing her all dolled up for court, and it was fascinating. And it was funny, too - even in a dress that must’ve taken three servants to lace her into, she seemed so relaxed here, behind an old wall of greenery that hadn’t been touched in years. Nothing at all like the woman Lydia had been prodding all this time.

Lucretia cleared her throat, looking back at the central garden. “Merle always said this garden was ours to take care of. I guess he was more serious about that than I thought.” She took a few steps forward, crouching down and pulling a weed from the dirt. She twirled it absentmindedly between her fingers.

“Why do you act like that?”

She turned, visibly startled. “What?”

The question had been impulsive, but Lydia wasn’t about to back down now. “This is the first time I’ve seen you acting normal and not like you’re a wooden soldier or something. You act like you’re always in court, all formal and looking down on us-”

“ _What_ ?” Lucretia stared at her. “Looking down on you? You’re the one who’s always acting like nothing’s good enough! The whole _point_ of what I’ve been doing was to be at my best!”

“Your _best_ is where you pretend you have an entire tree up your ass?” Lucretia spluttered incoherently at that, and Lydia couldn’t help smirking. “Yeah, I mean, the ice queen _look_ suits you, but it’s not a _great_ one to show off to your own fiancée.”

“I’ve been _trying_ to impress you!” Lucretia huffed, and immediately looked regretful as the words left her mouth. Lydia’s smirk widened.

“Maybe try something else, then. You’re _much_ more interesting when you act like a real person.” Lucretia crossed her arms and glared. Lydia winked. “Yeah, see, like that.” She strolled past Lucretia to go check out the bench, since the rain still wasn’t stopping. Brushing away the debris that had settled onto it, she sat down carefully, and after a few seconds Lucretia sat beside her.

“...This hasn’t been working at all, has it?”

“Probably not like you expected it to.”

She sighed. “I...guess I can see where the misunderstanding might have come in. But - you want this to work out too, don’t you?”

Lydia made it a rule not to regret anything, ever, but, maybe, she might be persuaded to admit constantly trying to get a rise out of Lucretia hadn’t been the best possible way to get what she wanted. It _had_ worked, though, eventually, in a way, so chalk one up for her. “Well, at this point the alternative is that my brothers have to go to war and _also_ I probably get murdered, versus living as a rich and powerful queen, so, yeah, I’d say that’s the plan.”

That got an inelegant snort out of her. “Then can we start over? Clean slate?” she asked, smiling slightly. “This whole thing has been kind of a total goddamn disaster and if we could just sort of pretend it never happened that would be just super.”

Oh, this was _much_ better. “No.” As Lucretia’s face fell, Lydia waited a beat and then continued “Disasters are the best bonding experience. But I’ll play nicer if you will.” She smirked at Lucretia again.

“Are you always like this?”

“Bold words for a woman whose servants dumped food on me and locked me out in the rain.”

“I think those cancel out, actually. The rain washed the food out.” Lucretia spread a bit of her skirt out to examine in. “Not enough light to really tell though, and I don’t think the rain is going to let up before the sun finishes going down.”

“You never thought to put a lamp in your garden?”

“We weren’t allowed to stay out here late enough to need it. My father’s rules. Though a few times Magnus did have to sneak out to get something he’d left here. It was ages before he got good enough not to get caught on the way back.”

“What’s the deal with you two, anyway? I get that he’s your guard and you’re supposed to always be together, but you seem closer than that.” Lydia propped her elbow on the bench’s armrest, leaning her weight on it as she watched Lucretia.

“He’s my brother,” Lucretia said, smiling. “Or, rather, he might as well be. Then again, he _did_ just lock me out in the pouring rain.” She pushed back a lock of hair, squeezing water out of it with a sigh.

Lydia grinned. “No, take it from me - that means he’s definitely your brother. So what’s his title? I’ve never gotten a clear answer.”

“Oh, no, he’s not nobility. I had…kind of an adventure outside the castle when I was eight or so. Magnus and I met during it, and he kept me safe while we were wandering around the city. Eventually we found some guards who took me home, I insisted he come too, and Davenport - the guard-captain - persuaded my father to let Magnus stay. I needed a friend who wasn’t being told to make nice with me for political reasons. So, Captain Davenport took Magnus in himself, and we’ve been inseparable ever since.” Lucretia smiled. “Once I got old enough to have a personal guard, Magnus beat all the other contenders. He’s my best friend.”

“An _adventure_ , hm? That sounds like a fun story.” Lydia leaned in closer, grinning.

“It mostly involves a lot of being lost, plus some moments of actual danger.”

“Well, that’s better than no moments of danger. So?”

Lucretia’s lips twitched as she tried to hide another smile. “Well, if you really want to hear it, I guess you’ll have to keep playing nice, won’t you? I think the rain’s letting up.” She glanced up towards the sound of raindrops pounding on the roof overhead.

Lydia sighed ostentatiously. “You drive a hard bargain.” This was _so_ much more fun than needling her and getting no response.

“Mmhmm. Look on the bright side, we’ll be able to go inside and dry out soon.” Her gaze turned towards the hanging baskets and she gave a thoughtful hum.

“What’s so interesting about those? Secret, adorable childhood memories of sitting in the baskets? I bet you were tiny enough to fit.”

Lucretia made an offended noise. “I - probably was, actually, but no. I was just thinking - it’s been too long since I was here, and this place could really use some work. I think I’ll talk to Magnus and Merle about restoring it.” She hesitated. “You know...I always found it very - satisfying, working in the garden here. If you’d like, you’d be welcome to join me. There’s plenty of room to split it into three parts.”

Lydia looked back at Lucretia, who watched her with faint but visible hope. She considered for a second, stretching out on the bench, before-“I don’t think so. You couldn’t pay me to ruin my hands in the dirt like that.”

“Oh.” Lucretia’s expression faltered, just a little, but before she could really wilt Lydia continued.

“But, I could come by and keep you company occasionally while _you_ play with flowers.”

“Oh!” Lucretia smiled. “That works too.” The smile turned into a smirk. “And Magnus can handle spreading the fertilizer all by himself when he and I get all this cleared out. He owes me that much.”

Lydia grinned widely. “Oh, _very_ good. You should come out and sit on the bench to watch while he does it.”

Lucretia actually _giggled_ at that - she really was full of surprises. “‘Oh, but I have to be here. How will you protect me from assassins if I’m somewhere else? And it’s so hot, of course the wine is very necessary.’”

“You know,” Lydia laughed, “I think you and I might just get along after all.”

Lucretia gave a pleased little hum and leaned back on the bench, and the two of them watched as the rain slowed, them finally stopped. Lydia got up and gave an exaggerated curtsy to Lucretia before offering her hand to help her up, and with a smile Lucretia accepted it, her hand soft and cool from the rain.

They hadn’t taken ten steps into the castle again before a veritable army descended on them both, led by Magnus and Edward, who each whisked away their sister without a second thought.

“I know it was you, you know,” Lucretia told Magnus, eyes narrowed.

“Hey, I unlocked the door as soon as I realized it was pouring. You were already gone. You can’t put that on me.”

“I can and will - but I _meant_ the fact that Robbie, of all people, was supposed to bring the food.”

“Ooh. Yeah. I talked to Lup, and she talked to Barry, and we got that set up as soon as you started planning.”

Lucretia raised an eyebrow. “Davenport would be proud of your planning skills, if not the outcome. What exactly did you expect to happen?”

“It was an icebreaker,” Magnus said reasonably. “Nothing breaks the tension like Robbie offering to get you some dank potions.”

“You and I have very different notions of an icebreaker.”

“Well, it worked, right? You guys were hiding out in the garden for a nice long time.”

“...We had a very enlightening conversation,” Lucretia said finally. “I think we’re on much better ground now.”

Magnus’ face broke into a broad grin. “There you go!” He patted her back. “What did I tell you? It was a great way to bond.”

“Don’t get too excited just yet,” Lucretia said, though she glanced back as she was ushered away to change and warm up, to catch a last glimpse of Lydia as she talked to her brother - then they went around a corner and she was gone, and Lucretia turned her attention back to the hot bath and dry clothes waiting for her. Also food. Eating something would be nice.

“So,” Edward said, leaning his elbow on Lydia’s shoulder in a practiced motion, “did you have fun at dinner?” He raised an eyebrow at Lydia.

“Oh, it was a _great_ time.” Lydia punctuated the sentence by wringing out a portion of her skirt on him. Edward dodged aside just in time to avoid getting his shoes soaked and glared at her. Lydia smirked back. “We had a very interesting conversation.” She glanced over her shoulder, seeing Lucretia raise an eyebrow at Magnus. “I think the ice queen might be a little warmer than we thought.”

“Now _that’s_ interesting. You’ll have to tell me all about it.”

“Obviously. By the way, how did you know where to find us when we came in?”

“Oh, Magnus came and got me when he figured out you two were stuck in the rain.” Edward looked thoughtful for a second. “That reminds me. Lydia, how do you think I’d look with sideburns?”

“You couldn’t pull it off. That man has a jawline _made_ for facial hair. You’re more the goatee type.”

“I would literally rather die.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess what scene I wrote long before this fic ever really came into being


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time is the only way to build a relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LIKE CHILEAN MINERS EMERGING FROM THE DEPTHS

Lucretia had chosen a simpler dress than her usual to visit the garden. The rain had continued for a few days after the disastrous dinner(although - maybe it _had_ been less disastrous than she’d feared, all things considered), but it had finally given way. The clouds had dissipated entirely, freeing the sun to shine down all across the castle. She trailed her hands through the ivy as she stepped through the curtain, looking across the tangle of plants and smiling to herself.

She’d relented enough to help Magnus tackle the weeding, and the pile the two of them had formed had been impressive. He’d finished with the fertilizer in record time, and as she looked over the newly emptied space she could already see the spots where the ground had been disturbed.

“Started already, huh?” She looked over her shoulder.

“Well, since _someone_ wouldn’t help me, I thought I might as well jump right in.”

“ _Someone’s_ favorite dress took three days to recover from getting soaked through. I’m not sorry.” Lucretia untied a small bag from her skirt. “Oh - do you mind going to find Merle and asking him about those cuttings we talked about? I really would like to get them planted and growing as soon as possible.”

“Isn’t Lydia supposed to be - oh, _I_ get it.” Magnus grinned at her. “Sure, I’ll go.”

“I - don’t look at me like that! I need to know about those plants, it’s important!”

“Sure thing.” Magnus patted her shoulder. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“You are the worst,” Lucretia grumbled, shooing him away. With him gone her frown soon faded as she looked around. With the sun shining and the weeds cleared away, the garden felt just the same as it had when she’d been nine years old, fastidiously placing her books on the bench to keep them clean, then plunging her hands gleefully into dirt to make things grow.

The divider in the center of the garden was still just a chunk of wood - Magnus had volunteered to carve something more artful, but he wasn’t done. Lucretia fully expected ducks to be involved when he did unveil it. Stepping carefully into her half of the plot, she lifted her skirt enough to kneel, the ground soft and cool beneath her. She scooped a few seeds out of the bag and selected a spot for the first one. Lucretia was just covering it when a voice sounded behind her.

“So, is this going to be a thing where you’re only planting stuff in your family colors, or are you branching out?”

“Blue and white is a very nice color combination,” Lucretia said, turning to look at Lydia. “How did you get behind me without me seeing you?”

“Maybe you were too busy choosing an exact latitude and longitude for your seeds.”

“...Did you - never mind.” Lucretia gave her a slightly suspicious look. “Entirely unrelated, though,” she added, “the actual entrance to the garden is _there_. For future reference.”

“Noted,” Lydia drawled, sinking onto the bench and leaning back with a faint smirk. She certainly had a knack for making herself comfortable.

“And to answer your question - no, actually. I _am_ planting moonflowers, but that’s just because I like them, and I’d like to come out here in the evenings.” She pressed a seed into the soil.

“And they’re _white_ moonflowers.”

“Yes, they’re white. I prefer them to pink.”

“Is there going to be any color in your little garden?” Lydia propped an elbow on the armrest, watching Lucretia look down again at the arc that was forming as she planted seeds. She opened her mouth as the thought of _why bother with such boring flowers_ formed, then stopped herself.

Lucretia, still turned away, didn’t notice her self-control at all, much to Lydia’s annoyance. “Magnus wants sunflowers. And wildflowers.”

“I didn’t ask about Magnus’ garden.” Impulsively, Lydia waited until Lucretia turned away again, then stretched out a foot to kick the bag of seeds towards herself, leaning down to pick it up. When Lucretia sat up again and reached for it, Lydia spun it in one hand, waiting. She was trying to play _nicer_ , sure, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t _play_. She smirked as she watched Lucretia feel around, turn to look, and frown. After a moment she looked up and her eyes fell on Lydia’s hand.

“Why did you take my seeds?”

“They were there.” Lydia blinked innocently at her. Lucretia held out her hand; Lydia made no move to hand them over.

“...may I have them _back_ , please?”

“No.” Lydia looked at Lucretia, who narrowed her eyes slightly, and sighed dramatically. “Maybe. _If_ you agree to my terms.”

Lucretia sat back on her heels, looking faintly baffled in a way that made Lydia grin. “What terms?”

“I’ll give them back if you agree to add something with real color to your little plot here. The brighter the better.”

She gave Lydia a long look, then sighed. “Poppies,” she said finally. “A nice bright red. Satisfied?”

Lydia hummed tonelessly, tipping her head back and tapping her chin as if considering the offer. Before she could answer, though, the bag hanging from her hand was plucked out of it and she sat up. “Ex _cuse_ me.”

Lucretia smiled sweetly. “I agreed to your terms, and in your own words you said if I did that you’d give back my bag.”

“I didn’t make any promises - and that wasn’t giving, was it? I’d think a woman raised to rule would understand the distinction between taking something and being given it.”

“I upheld my end of the agreement. I just enforced you keeping to yours. Just like counting payment before giving someone the thing they bought.”

Lydia couldn’t help a grin. This was much more fun already. Leaning back on the bench, she feigned nonchalance and sighed. “Whatever you say. Just as long as you don’t insist on dragging me out to a garden that’s just a boring sea of white.”

“There’s nothing wrong with white flowers,” Lucretia said mildly, turning back to her work. “And nobody is forcing you to come out here.” She planted another seed, pressing it into the dirt with slightly more force than necessary.

Lydia paused, then recalculated a bit. It was possible that she was calibrated, just as a person in general, a little to the right of what would work here. “Maybe not. But I could still use a break from Edward, so you’re my excuse.”

“I thought you two were inseparable.”

“I thought you and Magnus were too.”

Lucretia glanced towards the hidden path from the garden. “Point taken.”

“So, did you ever bury him in the garden?”

“Wh- bury him? Why would I _bury_ him?” Lucretia sat up again to give her another baffled look.

“Why wouldn’t you?” Lydia grinned again. “You had a perfect opportunity and you just let it go to waste? He’s way too big to bury here now, he wouldn’t fit.”

“This is the strangest conversation I have ever had, and that includes the ones about plant seduction.”

Lydia almost choked on her own spit. “About _what_?! ”

“...Sometimes I forget other people aren’t desensitized to Merle,” Lucretia mused. “Actually, desensitized is a strong word for it. Resigned, maybe.”

“You can’t just leave it at that.”

“I don’t think that’s a true statement.” Lucretia raised an eyebrow at Lydia. “Do you actually want to know? Do you want to have the knowledge in the back of your mind whenever you converse with him that this is a thing that happened? Choose wisely.”

Lydia opened her mouth, then closed it. Thought for a second. “Yes. Definitely. I want to hold this over him forever.”

“You poor thing,” Lucretia mused. “You think he has shame.”

* * *

Lydia enjoyed how quickly Lucretia could go from calm and collected to mild panic. She hovered. It was kind of cute. And Lydia knew the best way to set her off.

“Lydia? Your Grace, are you alright?” Lydia fluttered her eyes open from where she was artfully stretched out on a chair. Lucretia was leaning over her, wide-eyed, and visibly relaxed when Lydia looked at her. “Oh, thank goodness. Do you want me to have a doctor look at you? Duke Edward told me this just happens with you, but it really might be some kind of illness-”

“Oh, I’ve always done this,” Lydia waved it off. “I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure? It keeps happening, that can’t be good for you-”

Lydia bit back a grin that would have given her away. Her favorite thing about Lucretia relaxing her propriety was the anxious hovering. “Oh, yes. Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.”

Lucretia gave her a slightly sour look and withdrew. “If you say so.” Lydia gave a pleased little hum and sat up, rearranging her hair.

“Your Majesty,” someone called, knocking and almost immediately stepping through the door. He was the kind of person who could be described as _droopy_ , right down to his voice.

“Treasurer Jenkins.” Lucretia frowned slightly. “What do you need?”

“I’ve been going over the numbers, and we need to discuss the staff budget, there are some things that need to be handled-”

“Is this _urgent_ , Treasurer?” Looking at her, Lydia suppressed a smirk. She was getting better at reading the ice queen’s face. There was _just_ enough irritation there to give the game away, if she looked closely. Lucretia didn’t like the treasurer, and Lydia filed that away for later.

“I wouldn’t interrupt your meetings for anything else,” oh, and it was _mutual_. Jenkins’ look of vague misery flickered a little as his eyes landed on Lucretia.

She sighed. “Very well.” Standing, she turned to Lydia and inclined her head. “Pardon me, Your Grace, I must attend to this.”

“Of course,” Lydia said sweetly, “I wouldn’t keep you.”

She waited until Lucretia had gotten halfway across the room before swooning back into the chair, just audibly enough to get her attention.

When she looked back, Lucretia gasped, and Lydia listened with satisfaction to the sounds of hurried footsteps.

“Your Majesty, should-”

“Another time, Treasurer.” Lucretia said sharply. “Magnus.” Magnus gave her a thumbs-up, then shooed Jenkins out as Lucretia hurried back towards Lydia. “That’s it, I _am_ calling for-”She broke off as she came closer. Lydia waited a moment, then gave a soft hum as if she was waking up again. Cracking an eyelid, she saw Lucretia staring intently at her. “...oh. I see.” Lucretia sighed. “Sit up, please, it’s unbecoming to sprawl on the furniture.”

“Oh, I don’t know if-“

“I do.”

“...I think it’s very becoming to drape myself over the furniture. I know my good angles.”

“I’m sure.” Lucretia raised an eyebrow. “How many of those spells were you _actually_ fainting and how many were you playing at it?” Lydia gave her a catlike, wicked grin and Lucretia sighed. “Of course. Is there a _reason_ you felt the need to do this?”

Lydia settled back in the chair, ostentatiously comfortable. “It was fun. And it was funny seeing your face when I did it.”

“Charming as ever,” Lucretia muttered, shaking her head.

“Why, thank you.”

Magnus poked his head through the door. “Hey, Lucretia? Barry says that count from Rockport is on his way in.”

Lucretia sighed. “Well, educational as this has been, I’m afraid I really do have to go now.” She rose and brushed a few crumbs off her dress. “I’ll see you at…”She blinked as she trailed off.

Lydia tilted her head. “Lucretia?”

“I’m sorry, I…” A dazed look came over her, and then Lucretia fell back onto the cushions. Lydia sat bolt upright.

“Lucretia! Are you okay-“She reached over, feeling Lucretia’s forehead - not feverish, she’d been fine, but now she was starting to shake-

And her lips were twitching at the corners.

Lydia realized just as Lucretia opened her eyes and fluttered her lashes at her. “ _Oh_ ,” she breathed, “I’m _so_ terribly sorry, I don’t know what came over me. I just felt so _faint_.”

“I’m better at it than _that._ ”

“Looks like I’m good enough to give _you_ a good scare, though.” Lucretia sat up again, grinning, and Lydia’s hand fell away. “Maybe I _do_ understand why you do that. It is pretty fun.”

Lydia stared at her, then threw back her head and laughed. “ _Wow_. I’m already corrupting the queen. I work fast.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Lucretia retorted laughingly. “I’m many things, and one of those has been ‘actor’ since I was seven.”

“I thought your talents were limited to pretending to be the world’s most convincing wooden soldier.”

“You have a lot to learn about me then, don’t you?” Lucretia stood again. “Maybe I’ll share some of it at dinner. Good day, Your Grace.” She curtsied with exaggerated grace. Lydia stood and returned it with equally exaggerated care.

“Till dinner, then, Your Majesty.” She watched Lucretia go, and when she paused to look over her shoulder, Lydia wiggled her fingers in a teasing wave. Lucretia smiled, then disappeared through the door. Lydia leaned against the armchair, tilting her head as she looked thoughtfully after her fiancée. It still fascinated Lydia every time she displayed that inclination to play, redefining her from “cold” to simply “guarded.”

And if Lucretia’s open, unguarded grin stayed in the back of her mind for the hours between their visit and dinner, that had to be only because it was so unexpected.

* * *

Lydia glided along with Lucretia next to her, watching out of the corner of her eye. She’d invited Lydia along to a state meeting with her advisors. There had been a few unhappy looks throughout, particularly from the droopy-looking treasurer, but as far as Lydia was concerned they’d all just have to cope. It was too late to back out of the treaty without someone dying, and she wasn’t going to have someone putting a knife in her back because they didn’t like having Fames nobility listening to them talk about taxes and legal conundrums.

Of course, that didn’t make any of it less deadly boring. Give her a ball any day. You couldn’t charm numbers. But Lucretia had seemed perfectly at ease with it, asking questions and bringing up important points, and Lydia had paid close attention.

“Your Majesty,” came a voice behind them, and Lydia saw the faint twitch of Lucretia’s jaw before she turned smoothly, hands folded in front of her.

“Treasurer Jenkins,” she said, voice level. “Was there something unclear during the meeting?” Lydia mentally translated this to ‘what in God’s name do you want.’

“Well, actually, I hoped to discuss the necessary payments that need to be made, with the war looming - it’s very important to keep money flowing-”

“Yes, that is why it was so important to _prevent_ a war, Treasurer. I believe I made that clear some months ago.”

“I’m aware, but even in that case, there are military matters to be discussed - if I could have a private meeting-”His eyes darted to Lydia.

Impulsively, Lydia took Lucretia’s arm, linking it with hers and drawing all eyes to herself, where they should be. “I’m _so_ sorry,” she purred, “but I’m afraid Her Majesty has already promised to take tea with me. Her betrothed. I’m sure you understand.” She didn’t wait for him to answer - just sauntered away with Lucretia in tow. She did look back, though, making sure he saw her victorious look as Magnus patted him on the shoulder and followed, looking obscurely pleased.

They rounded a corner and Lucretia relaxed minutely. “Thank you.”

“I don’t know what you mean. I want tea, I don’t like eating alone, and last time I checked my treacherous brother was too busy trying to charm one of your chefs for special tidbits to come have tea with his own sister.”

“If you’re referring to the person I think you are, I wish him luck.” Lucretia shook her head. “Regardless - I still appreciate it.”

“That I whisked you away from your own advisor?”

“Jenkins is… _hardworking_. Of course I wouldn’t say a word against him. But he is, hmm, difficult to dissuade, let’s say. That would have been my afternoon spoken for.”

“He sounded like a chump. Literally. That’s the voice of a chump if I ever heard it.”

“Again, genuinely cannot speak ill of my own advisors in a public setting. I know you’re familiar with the politics of royal appointments.”

“That’s why I can say whatever I want. I’m not even royal yet. People already expect so little of me.” Lydia smirked. “Besides, I don’t see you walking away from the conversation.”

“Since I came to extend the offer to join me this morning, six people have come to speak to me and left without even approaching.”

Lydia blinked. “What?”

“I’ve been keeping track.” Lucretia opened the door to a private sitting room, taking a moment to flag down a passing maid and send for tea.

“Of how many people... _don’t_ talk to you?”

“You’ve seen how many people speak to me in a day, haven’t you? And how many follow me waiting for their opportunity to jump in?”

Lydia eyed her, seating herself on the comfiest seat in the room. Lucretia sat in the chair opposite her, the table between them decorated with an elegantly simple quartz carving of a dragon. “I might have noticed a couple. So...what, I’m scaring them off?”

“More like they’re trying not to antagonize the future queen.” Lucretia shrugged. “Which makes perfect sense, really.”

“Antagonize? Me?”

“I’m going to skate right by that clear and obvious bait and go directly to ‘it’s easier for them to rethink whether they really need me right now when they have to interrupt you.’”

“Which keeps you around me?”

“Among other things.”

Lydia analyzed that until the tea came. She watched Lucretia inhale the steam from her cup, eyes closing in momentary bliss. “So,” she said as if the conversation had never lapsed, “is that why you’re jumping on opportunities to spend time together now? You just don’t want people bothering you?”

“If that was the only problem,” Lucretia raised an eyebrow at her, “it wouldn’t be solved by me spending time with _you_.”

Lydia grinned. “Absolutely correct. So, the ‘other things’ you mentioned?”

“What about them?”

“What are they?”

“Does it matter?”

“If you’re dodging the question like this, definitely.” Lydia put her teacup in her lap, staring straight at Lucretia, refusing to budge. “Are you going to tell me, or should I start guessing?”

Lucretia looked back at her, head slightly tilted, and then sighed. “We didn’t exactly get off on the right foot, as you might recall. And every day brings the wedding closer. You could call this...making up for lost time.” She sipped her tea. “I’d like to think it’s at least giving us an opportunity to understand each other better, if nothing else.”

“...You really just say things like that, don’t you.”

“Your tea is going to get cold.”

* * *

“Are you absolutely sure you don’t want me to fake my death and hide in the closet?”

“No, because if you do that I have to sneak you food and you’ll make a mess all over my wardrobe.”

“How dare you suggest I’m in any way capable of making a mess.”

“I know for a fact you’re capable of ruining dresses you don’t think are gaudy enough.”

“Those beetle wings were an _improvement_.”

Lydia watched as a servant carried the last trunk out of Edward’s room. He’d made it very clear that any mishandling would be considered a deliberate insult, and her presence deterred any more subtle carelessness. After all, the Duke would be gone soon, and even if he visited he’d spend most of his time in Felicity. The _Duchess_ , on the other hand, would be here for a long, long time, and had the ear of the queen.

Once the door was closed, Edward turned back to her. “I mean it, Lyd. I’ll find an excuse if I have to. Fuck the delegation.”

“I’m a big girl, Ed. I can handle whatever they have to throw at me myself.” Lydia reached over to tug on his collar, making him swat her hand away. “Besides, you have to go home and make sure Keetz doesn’t waste away without us to make him stop writing poetry about ravens and skulls.”

“That’s very true. I don’t want him to decide he can redecorate my room into a mausoleum.” Edward leaned his shoulder against Lydia’s. She shoved him off immediately. “...You’d better answer my letters.”

“ _You’d_ better answer mine. I could have you executed.”

“Bold of you to assume I wouldn’t have you executed.”

“Lucretia would salt your fields.”

“Would she though?”

“Well. She would by the time I’m done with her.” Lydia tossed her head.

“Uh- _huh_.” Edward smirked.

Lydia rolled her eyes. “Look, I’m gorgeous, rich, and powerful. And Lucretia’s definitely smart enough to know she should hang onto me. I can work with that.” She slung an arm around his shoulders. “Don’t worry about me. I’ve got this in the bag.”

“Sure you do.” Edward elbowed her and wiggled out from under her arm. “I have to go. And I’m _sure_ when I see you at the wedding, you’ll be cool and collected while your blushing royal bride flutters around you.”

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean?” Lydia narrowed her eyes.

“Why, sister _dear_ ,” he was having way too much fun, in Lydia’s opinion, “nothing at all. Except that a certain name has been coming out of your mouth an awful lot ever since you had dinner with her-“

“Get out of my sight before I set fire to your carriage and make you ride with the mail.” Lydia swatted at the back of his head. “You were never my favorite brother.”

Edward ducked her hand, smirking. “Try not to throw yourself in front of any arrows for her,” he singsonged.

“ _Die_.”

* * *

The garden was starting to grow in. Lydia circled around the neat, round space, careful not to touch anything and get dirt or leaves on her dress. Lucretia’s flowers were already coming in, and she’d planted some kind of bush in the center, although Lydia had no idea what it was. Lucretia would probably tell her, eventually, if Lydia cared enough to ask. She took a step back to look at the once-messy patch of green, tamed again at the hands of royalty, and tried to picture a young Lucretia here. It was hard to even imagine her as a kid, let alone a kid with her hands in the dirt.

Lucretia had loved it, though, and she still did. Even the plain dresses she wore to work in it were an odd delight of hers, something she didn’t have to worry about dirtying because that was its entire purpose. When she’d been little, sometimes she’d just pushed her hands into the rich earth to see how closely it matched her skin - in summertime, when she could read out in the gardens, there was hardly any difference, and she thought, now, that maybe that might be an image to draw.

Looking at her, she couldn’t help but see how out-of-place Lydia seemed here in this unfinished, still-growing space, still unaware of the surprise taking form for her. Not that she looked _wrong_ , exactly, when she always moved and spoke like mountains would and _should_ split themselves to let her pass. She carried herself like she belonged here too, though Lucretia personally thought she was best suited to the elaborate, historic halls of the palace. Speaking of which, Lucretia cleared her throat slightly. She didn’t wait for Lydia to turn her attention to her - it was too likely she’d just pretend not to have heard to see how long she could draw it out.

“I have an invitation for you,” she said, calmer than she felt.

“What, here? Why, Your Majesty, the wedding is coming up, but if you really can’t wait-”

Lucretia spluttered, but Lydia’s smug look doused her quickly. “Very _funny_. And a stretch even by your standards.”

“Good enough to get you.”

Hard to deny that. “The _invitation_ ,” Lucretia said pointedly, “is to a ball.” _That_ got Lydia’s attention, and now it was Lucretia’s turn to look smug. “Though if you’d rather, of course you may feel free to decline it-“

“When?” Lydia barely waited for Lucretia to finish her sentence. A royal ball? That was _exactly her scene_. This would be a _perfect_ opportunity to show herself off to everyone.

“Three weeks. That should give you more than enough time to prepare, shouldn’t it?” Lucretia definitely looked pleased with herself, but it vanished at Lydia’s look of dismay.

“Are you joking? Three _months_ is more like it.”

“I - didn’t realize you took so long,” Lucretia said, visibly taken aback. “I usually take two at most.”

“Of course you do, but that’s not going to work for me - hm. Trendsetter it is, then. Experimental. I’m going to need access to whoever you use for your dresses.” Lydia’s mind was already spinning with ideas, and she was ready to rise to the challenge.

“...Of course,” Lucretia said after a moment, studying her. “I’ll inform them.”

“Perfect.” Lydia bared her teeth in a grin. “Don’t worry. With this amount of warning, I _probably_ won’t be able to put you to shame when I walk in.”

Lucretia raised an eyebrow, but Lydia saw the slight twitch of her lips. “I guess that’ll have to do, won’t it?” She paused. “Another thing you should know - I looked into some Fames traditions, and it doesn’t seem you have this one - you and I will be expected to open the dance.” Lydia turned back to look at her and Lucretia went on. “Not that anyone will be pouncing on you to come dance with me the moment you arrive, but it _is_ going to be necessary before too long. I have to admit, it’ll be - nice, not having to calculate who to dance with this time.” She smiled wryly, glancing over at the bush in the middle of her little plot, coming in green all over.

“Picking the noble least likely to be plotting against you, or the most?”

“Whoever was most likely to be mortally offended if they felt snubbed, typically.” Lucretia rolled her eyes, settling down onto the bench.

“Ooh, see, that’s why we cultivated a reputation for being fickle and casually dismissive of people. Much easier.” Lydia sat next to her, stretching out and making herself comfortable.

“I prefer not to give people an excuse to murder me,” Lucretia remarked. “A personal quirk of mine, perhaps.”

“Yeah, but then you know exactly who to get rid of,” Lydia said philosophically.

“I can do that without discovering what poison tastes like.”

“Bitter, usually, or like nothing at all.”

“Very helpful. Thank you.”

“I aim to please, Your Majesty.” Lydia smirked at her. “I also hope you have good taste in music, I’d hate to step on you because of a musician without rhythm.”

“Oh, that I can promise you won’t be a problem.” Lucretia smiled. “I may not throw balls _often,_ but believe me, I do know what I’m doing.”

* * *

The ball was lit by candles all over the room as the sun dipped below the horizon, and Lydia gazed out over the room, letting the noise wash over her with a tiny, private smirk. This was just her scene - surrounded by people just a little too intimidated to start a conversation, all awed by the glamour she projected like her life depended on it. When she was _officially_ queen, she’d have to make sure they threw more balls. Ed would sulk for _ever_ if he didn’t get an invitation to the next one, so she could hold that over his head to extort some favors out of him. She glanced around - _why_ wasn’t there a servant whose only job was to keep her well-supplied with wine - and caught a glimpse of shining white hair. Lucretia was across the room, surrounded by people, and Lydia noted her perfect posture, one hand holding an untouched glass of wine and the other at her side, held carefully still as she spoke to someone. Lydia leaned against a pillar, one ear tuned to the whispers around her from onlookers, and watched. She was good at reading people, and as practiced as Lucretia was at pretending, Lydia was just as practiced at seeing through facades. She kept glancing around at new people joining the conversation, and even though Lydia couldn’t quite see her eyes, she could tell Lucretia was trying to follow everyone in the conversation. She could also tell exactly how tense she was. Straightening up, Lydia sauntered in that direction to listen in, snagging a glass from a passing servant as she went. She slowed, sipping it lazily as she drew within earshot.

“-course, the treaty has already been finalized, but even so-”

“I see no reason to fuss about it now, Her Majesty certainly found it acceptable, or else it wouldn’t be signed, isn’t that right, Your Majesty?”

“I should hope so,” Lucretia said mildly, to a ripple of amusement that failed to note the slight twitch of her jaw. “Regardless, this seems hardly the time nor the place for this discussion.” She shifted her weight slightly, closer to Magnus, who looked so bored by the conversation he might have actually fallen asleep.

“Oh, it’s only a good friendly debate, and it’s not as if anyone-”

Lydia couldn’t resist. “ _There_ you are,” she all but purred as she swept into the group and immediately took Lucretia’s arm. “I’ve been looking _everywhere_ for you. You have excellent taste in wine, you know.” And there were _definitely_ discreet servants hanging around to keep everyone around the queen topped up. At least there was that.

“Ah - well, I do enjoy a glass now and then.”

“So I see,” Lydia glanced at her still-full wineglass. “You simply _must_ introduce me to these fine friends of yours - such _tasteful_ gold braid,” she added to the man who’d been so eager for a “friendly debate.” He preened, and Lydia would bet she could’ve made an entire outfit from the gold braid alone.

“Why thank you, Your Grace. I’m something of a military man, I consider this my dress uniform. Marquis Meadowore, at your service.”

“Oh, is that right? How impressive.” If the Marquis’ ego inflated any more, he’d probably float away. He opened his mouth and Lydia turned her back. “So, Lucretia, the rest of our introductions?”

Two minutes - Lydia’s personal record for charming a half-dozen people simultaneously. “-and _we_ said, no, we ordered _salmon_!” Uproarious laughter - even Lucretia smothered a giggle. “Now, I hate to leave you so soon, but I believe my fiancee and I are due to open the dance.”

Lucretia straightened a little. “Oh, of course. Johann is a fine musician, you’ll see.” Lydia still had hold of her arm, so Lucretia merely inclined her head to the others and led the way to the dance floor.

“Are you a dancer, Lucretia?” Lydia gave her a faint smirk.

“I dance very well, thank you. I’m surprised at you, you know. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so...effusive.” She tilted her head, studying Lydia. “It’s an interesting change.”

“I love parties. It’s fun to turn heads.” Lydia smirked, then added in a lower voice “You seemed more than happy to leave your loyal subjects for me.”

Lucretia guided her out to the center, eyes not shifting from Lydia. “I’d hate to delay their chance to enjoy some dancing.” She looked over at the bard and nodded, and he lifted his violin and began to play. Lydia couldn’t stop herself from looking up in surprise - just the first few notes poured out like fine wine, filling the air and stirring something she couldn’t name.

“Told you,” Lucretia whispered, and she placed a hand on Lydia’s waist, taking the other in hers and took the lead. The two of them spun gently around each other as the music wound around them like an affectionate cat.

The tempo picked up, and Lydia perked up just a fraction. She looked down at Lucretia and gave her a private little wink - then she shifted her hold on Lucretia and spun them in a new direction. Lucretia nearly stumbled, eyes widening for an instant, and her grip on Lydia tightened as she recovered, letting herself be whirled around the floor for a moment.

“What are you doing?” she whispered, and she didn’t sound upset.

“Dancing with you, obviously. What does it look like?”

Lucretia gave Lydia a fleeting, sour look, and Lydia’s grin widened. She lifted an arm to twirl Lucretia beneath it, catching her with her other hand to draw her back in. Lucretia’s hand was soft and warm in hers, and the fingers of her other hand brushed over the embroidery in her dress as they moved together.

“You’re not a bad dancer after all.”

“I could say the same for you.” Lucretia’s eyes sparkled with sudden mischief, the same look she’d gotten when she’d turned Lydia’s own trick back on her, and before she knew it Lydia was following her lead again, and she couldn’t help but laugh, a small, private thing just for the two of them.

They were being watched, Lucretia knew that, but she knew it in the same way she knew that there were trees outside or the sun would rise in the morning. It was true, and it always would be true, and it would always be _important_ , but it just wasn’t relevant right now. She saw nothing but Lydia, close enough to feel her warmth, the two of them moving back and forth across the room. And, suddenly, she didn’t _care_ that they were being watched. She didn’t care, and it was freeing. Something between them seemed to crackle as the music crescendoed, lightning passing between them as often as the lead. Louder, and faster, and there was nothing in her head but the movement between them as the song drew to a dramatic close, and-

Lydia’s arms encircled her waist and pulled, turning them both as she dipped Lucretia. The last note lingered as she caught up with what happened, and for just a single second all she could do was stare up into her eyes. Then, with a final, secret wink, Lydia straightened, lifting Lucretia upright again, and the moment was gone.

Lydia watched Lucretia closely as they both stepped back and curtseyed to one another. She’d kept up much better than Lydia had expected. Somehow, that wasn’t as much of a surprise as it would have been a few weeks ago.

And her face when Lydia had dipped her had been _fun_. If she’d known _this_ was how to fluster the ice queen, she would’ve done it ages ago. Turning, she presented her arm. Lucretia glanced up at her, then took it. As they left the floor, guests streamed out to take their place, happy to follow their queen's lead even as she departed.

Lucretia gestured over a servant and offered Lydia a glass of wine. “That was...exhilarating,” she said after a moment.

“You think so?” Lydia took it and gave Lucretia an innocent look in return. “I thought I missed a few steps.”

“I’ve learned not to trust that face, and also not to trust you when you start to sound modest.”

Lydia laughed and took Lucretia’s arm again. “Why don’t we get some air, Your Majesty?” She steered Lucretia out to the balcony, deftly avoiding approaching guests. Losing them in groups already engrossed in conversation was _easy_ \- clearly Lucretia had never given them a real challenge. She’d have to fix that.

Once they were outside, Lucretia glanced over her shoulder and relaxed minutely. She made her way over to the railing and tipped her head up, taking a deep breath of the cool air. Lydia’s eyes were drawn to her hair, almost glowing in the moonlight as the breeze rustled a stray twist.

“The view up here is nice,” Lucretia remarked, looking up at the stars. She let go of Lydia’s arm to rest her hands on the railing.

Lydia turned to lean back against it, looking up too. “Huh. It’s almost like you have more stars here than back home.”

“It’s a perk of royalty. I tell people I want more stars and they get them for me.”

Lydia snorted. “You don’t seem good at telling people _anything_.” She mimicked Lucretia’s straight-backed posture. “Oh, I’m the queen, but I’m going to stand here with someone I obviously can’t stand and not even snipe at him. Seriously, you looked like someone was standing behind you pulling your hair and you couldn’t say anything about it.” Shaking her head, she relaxed back again. “It’s a party, you’re supposed to be having fun.”

“Parties aren’t really my idea of fun.” Lucretia looked over at her. “Although I guess I’ll have to get used to them, now.”

“You’re not partying right, then. You’re in charge, you’re the one these are supposed to be tailored to. What’s your ideal, then? Your perfect party?”

“One I don’t have to attend,” Lucretia retorted. “They’re all about dealing with people, and I’d rather not.”

“You’ve never complained about holding court. I think you _like_ that, and that’s people too.”

“That’s _different_.” She frowned, turning around to mimic Lydia’s pose. “I can be quiet and think over what I want to say when it’s a petition. That just means I’m thoughtful and wise and people like that. Once you get through the small-talk part of conversation, though, then things get hard, and it’s worse when I’m talking to nobility. If I take too long to answer, people take offense. Offending someone means ages of maneuvering to get things back to normal and it’s just so much easier to avoid that whole situation.” Lydia studied her, head tilted slightly. Lucretia shook her head. “At least if I cultivate a reputation for being formal and severe, people don’t expect me to perform witty banter and gossip about how well I do at it.”

“No, it just means everyone figures out that you hate parties and they gossip about that instead.”

“I _know_ that, but what do you want me to do about it?” Lucretia raised an eyebrow. “Believe me, I’ve put a lot of thought into this stuff. I’ve pretty much just picked the best of a lot of less-than-ideal options.”

Lydia shook her head. “Oh, please. All you _need_ is a distraction. And that’s where I come in. Aren’t you lucky?”

“Excuse me?”

Lydia grinned. “I _love_ parties-”

“You would.”

“Do you want me to help you or not?” Lydia raised an eyebrow at her, mimicking her stern face, and Lucretia rolled her eyes, the corners of her lips twitching. She gave an ironic little bow and gestured for Lydia to continue. “Thought so. So, I love parties, and conveniently for you, now I have to go to yours all the time. So, as long as you have me on your arm, you get...hm, call it a conversational shield. Someone to take over when you start panicking. That worked nicely before, didn’t it?”

“I...guess it did,” Lucretia said slowly. “So what’s the catch?”

“I’m hurt! You think I’d have a catch in wait for my own fiancee?” Lydia put a hand to her chest, gasping.

“I’ve spoken to you for more than thirty seconds at a time, so, yes? Yes. I do.”

Lydia shrugged. “You weren’t wrong. I get to choose your party outfits. I look better with someone who matches mine.”

“No, but I’ll consult you on the decision-making.”

“...Good enough.” Lydia grinned, and Lucretia smiled back. “How long can we be out here before your people start speculating?”

“That’ll start about,” Lucretia looked up and considered the question, “two minutes ago.”

“Perfect.” There was a fine line between intrigue and scandal, and it was easier to get away with scandal when you were _officially_ royalty and not just engaged-to-be. Lydia offered her arm. “Shall we get started?”

Lucretia accepted her arm. “I _am_ curious to see you in action again.”

They swept back into the room, Lydia reveling in the eyes on them. She caught Lucretia watching her out of the corner of her eye - but then, better not say anything. Lucretia might ask why Lydia was stealing glances at _her_.

The rest of the ball passed in a delightful whirl of charm and glamour. Lydia made sure to leave everyone she talked to wanting more. If there was a better way to get people to like her, she hadn’t found it. Lucretia’s hand hardly left her arm, and she found herself keenly aware of it in the moments she did remove it.

Her feet ached by the time the ball came to a close. Lucretia stopped beside her, finally reclaiming her hand, and gave her a precise little nod. Then she looked up and smiled.

“This was a much more pleasant evening than I was expecting. I hope you had as enjoyable a time as I did, Your Grace.”

“I might have,” Lydia gave her an equally-precise bow, graceful even in the broad skirt she wore, and was rewarded with another little smile. “But we’ll have to see if that remains the case.”

“I suppose we will. I might even look forward to it.” Lucretia tilted her head slightly, studying Lydia for a moment. Then another nod, and “Don’t let me keep you. I’m sure you must be tired, and I must be going. Would you...like to have tea in the gardens, tomorrow? I understand it will be a lovely day.”

Lydia gave her a thoughtful look, hiding it under a smirk. “I’ll check my calendar and see if I’m available. Good night, Lucretia.”

She returned a soft smile. “Good night, Lydia. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow,” and with that Lucretia turned and glided away. Lydia caught a glimpse of Magnus joining her as she turned the corner, but that was all, and she wondered if Lucretia knew how charming that genuine little smile was.

Later, buried beneath smooth, soft sheets, Lucretia thought about Lydia’s eyes, glittering with mischief. Her heart skipped a beat every time she remembered the sight, and the whirling thrill of dancing together, and she _liked_ it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For real though, I don't know why I haven't learned better than to make promises re: when I will update. I really don't. But I was definitely working on it! And now it's here! I promise I'm not abandoning this fic, even if it takes me a long time to finish it!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Relationships, and flowers, blossom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how bout that liveshow huh
> 
> very motivational

_Edward,_

_By now I’m sure you’ve reached Felicity. Has our darling little brother filled your chambers with raven paraphernalia in our absence? Hopefully he’s already thrown out your curtains._

_It’s much quieter here now that you’ve gone home. I have to just remember all the comments I want to make about people and tell them to Lucretia later, and that’s not as fun. But she does fuss at me about it if I try to make her laugh in the middle of court, so I get that much._

_Tell Kravitz to make sure he wears at least some accent of color when he comes for the wedding. Yellow suits him. I’d hate to have to send him home after the two of you come all this way to attend._  

* * *

 Lydia lounged extravagantly on the bench, watching as Lucretia carefully pruned the bush in the center of the garden. Magnus’ bulk nearly hid the entire thing, though periodically Lucretia would glance at the bush, then at Lydia. She’d look away too quickly to bother calling her out on it, though, and Lydia wasn’t interested enough in the plants to ask what was so important about the bush. Maybe it would look better when it bloomed or something, but until then she was fine with just finding new ways to make herself comfortable.

Rustling leaves drew all of their attention. Lucretia was already standing and brushing dirt off her knees when a tall, stocky woman entered, and Magnus lit up.

“Julia!” He practically bounded across the few strides between them and swept her into a tight hug. “You’re back!”

“Of course I am, did you think I wasn’t coming home, you big dope?” the woman laughed, wrapping her arms around him and lifting him bodily off the ground to spin him around, and he laughed too. Setting him down again, she smiled and kissed him gently. From the poleaxed look on his face, she might as well have hit him over the head, but he still grinned ear to ear, gazing back at her. Lucretia glanced over in Lydia’s direction with a tiny, amused smile, and Lydia blinked. Then the woman - Julia, apparently - turned towards Lucretia as Magnus recovered. “Hey, it’s good to see you too, Lucretia. How’s things?”

Smiling brighter, Lucretia came over and Julia pulled her into a hug, patting her shoulder. “As good as ever, really. I certainly can’t complain.”

“That’s good, that’s good. Is this place new? I don’t remember it.”

“It’s Magnus’ and mine, from years ago. I decided I wanted to restore it, so here we are. Oh, that reminds me, though.” Lucretia stepped back, turning Julia with a hand on her shoulder, and held out the other one, a note of almost-playful formality entering her voice. “May I introduce Her Grace the Grand Duchess Lydia, my fiancee. Lydia, Mistress Julia Waxman.”

“My wife,” Magnus added, still beaming.

“Charmed,” Lydia said, making no move to get up and watching Julia closely. Her hands were heavily calloused, she noted. Off to the side, she saw Lucretia roll her eyes.

“Don’t mind her,” she said dryly, “that’s actually better than I got when I first met her.”

“Really?” Julia raised an eyebrow. “Well, that’s good to know. Do you mind if I steal my husband for a bit?”

“If I said yes, it wouldn’t stop you, so feel free.” Lucretia waved her off. “You two have fun, by royal order.”

“Oh, we will,” Julia wiggled her eyebrows and Lucretia giggled, shaking her head at her. Lydia sat up a little, newly intrigued. “This place looks great, by the way, great work.”

“We’re pretty good at it by now,” Magnus said, and pulled Julia into another kiss.

Lucretia cleared her throat obnoxiously. “ _Thank_ you, now please go away, don’t start making out in here, gross.”

They both laughed as they separated again. Magnus made a grotesque face at Lucretia, which she returned in kind. Julia elbowed him. “Yes, ma’am. Good to see you - and, uh, nice to meet you, too,” she added to Lydia, who just nodded as casually as if she’d said the sky was blue. She and Magnus disappeared back through the foliage, voices fading rapidly.

“‘Mistress,’” Lydia remarked, turning towards Lucretia, “and she’s on a first-name basis with you?”

“She’s married to Magnus,” Lucretia said absently, already kneeling again to pluck sprouting weeds from the dirt. “That makes her family. She’s an excellent blacksmith, we buy weapons and armor for the royal guard from her and her father. And she taught Magnus woodworking, too, even if he never really took to the forge stuff like she does. Very skilled.”

Lydia hummed tonelessly, propping her chin on her hand. Chalk up another interesting fact about Lucretia - she might get anxious about her reputation among strangers, but she also didn’t seem to see anything odd about permitting a common blacksmith to be so familiar with her - to call her _family_. After a moment, Lucretia looked up and raised an eyebrow. “What?”

 _Every time I learn something about you, it’s somehow really cute._ “Nothing.”

* * *

  _My only, and thus dearest, sister,_

_I found that little surprise you left in my mattress. I should’ve guessed weeks ago. The shrimp stains will never come out. Expect a bill, for the replacement and for the perfume I’m going to have to fill my room with until the smell fades. And expect me to wear the gray coat to your wedding._

_I don’t think you’ve sent me a single letter that didn’t mention your fiancée. No, actually, that’s not true. It’s not that I don’t think it. I just checked, and I know it for a fact. How many times can you write about watching her water flowers before you get sick of it?_

* * *

 Lucretia leaned on the balcony railing, looking out over the city below and musing. Her father had told her once that being royalty meant being held up by one’s people. She’d been young, and still carrying dolls along with her books everywhere she went.They’d always had breakfast together, in private, with only Captain Davenport and, later, Magnus there with them. Watching a carriage roll by in the streets, she remembered disregarding her etiquette tutor’s lessons on posture to lean across the table, listening raptly to her father’s every word.

Behind her, there were light footsteps, like someone was trying to be quiet. Then Lydia asked “Are you brooding out here? You’ve never seemed like the brooding type.”

“I don’t think this is a good place to brood,” Lucretia said, turning her head just enough to regard Lydia out of the corner of her eye as she came up next to her. “Not in the daytime, anyway. Maybe you could get away with it at night.”

Lydia smirked. “It is pretty brightly lit. If you want my advice, get a candlestick and wander the ramparts at midnight. It’s a good atmosphere. Very dramatic.”

“So is giving poor Davenport a heart attack thinking of all the ways I could be killed. I think I’ll pass, but I appreciate the thought.” Lucretia chuckled. “Did you need something, or is there just nowhere around soft enough to faint onto for attention?”

“I take that very personally. I could faint onto marble if I wanted to.”

“Please don’t. I’d rather you not crack your skull because you were trying to prove me wrong.” Lucretia turned to regard Lydia with a lopsided smile, resting her chin on her hand, elbow propped against the railing.

“I was bored and I knew you weren’t doing anything I couldn’t interrupt.” Lydia shrugged, resting her arms on the railing next to Lucretia. “So I came to bother you.”

“It’s not a bother,” Lucretia said, a little too quickly. “That is, I’m not doing much right now. I just wanted a minute out here. It’s not a good place to brood, but it is a good place to think.”

“About?”

“Just - anything.” Lucretia shrugged.

“Not a good answer! Try again. I’m nosy now.”

She snorted. “Only now? Fine, fine. I was just thinking about my father, and about being queen.”

“See, that sounds like brood-thoughts. Are you sure you weren’t brooding?”

“I’m allowed to think deeply,” Lucretia retorted, without any heat to it.

“I didn’t say you weren’t. I’m just saying, it sounds like the kind of thoughts you think deeply while you’re staring out a window into the dark and probably stormy night.” Lydia straightened up, hands on the railing.

Lucretia laughed and shook her head as she followed suit, turning to keep her eyes on Lydia. “Not really. I miss him, obviously, but it’s not like I’m miserable or anything. Things are - things are good.” Looking up at Lydia, her smile softened a little.

“Of course they are,” Lydia waved a hand dismissively, not quite meeting Lucretia’s gaze. “I’m here.” She dropped her hand back to the railing, looking out again.

“So you are.” Lucretia followed her gaze. “It’s a nice view, isn’t it?”

“It could be worse.” Lydia was watching her out of the corner of her eye, and Lucretia wasn’t quite sure why. She’d stopped being as subtle about it when she wanted something, so it seemed like she’d say something if she did. Her eyes flicked downwards, and Lucretia followed them to see their hands, an inch away from each other. When she looked up, Lydia had turned to watch her, unblinking. It would have been a little unnerving, if it had been anyone else. As it was, Lucretia just blinked back. She glanced back at their hands, wondering, and- oh. _Oh_.

Her face warmed a little and she looked away - but after a second her hand shifted over. Gently, almost shyly, she slid it onto Lydia’s. Not completely, but enough to feel how warm Lydia’s fingers were underneath her own, and she looked up long enough to offer another soft smile. Neither of them spoke. They just looked back out at the view, and Lucretia felt Lydia’s thumb brush against her hand.

* * *

  _I, of course, haven’t any idea what you mean. You were the one who insisted I write - now you’re complaining about the content? Please do make up your mind, Edward._

_It’s much more interesting here now than it was when we arrived. The wedding planning is in full swing. I spend plenty of time planning dresses and being asked about foods I’ve never had, and much less time being glared at by annoying advisors. Marrying into royalty does have its perks. Try not to feel too jealous. How is the Marquis, by the way? I’d suggest you invite him along when you come, he does love weddings, but that might be coming on a little strong. Although, if you want to get your foot in the door…_

_Just don’t let him bring that spider of his. I don’t want war to break out at my wedding because someone stepped on it. The honeymoon, maybe, but not the wedding._

* * *

 The bush was _finally_ flowering. Lucretia had gone to Merle seventeen times in the past month worrying about it. Lydia didn’t seem too concerned when she saw it, though, which was hopefully a good sign. Then again, she hadn’t really reacted at all to it one way or another.

Lucretia gently took one of the flowers in hand, feeling the petals between her fingertips. She’d forgotten how satisfying it was, to know that these plants, these living things right here in her garden, were alive and well all because of her hard work. She really had missed this.

She wasn’t even really aware of her smile until she heard “Is grinning at plants supposed to make them grow better or something?” Lydia had sauntered up beside her - or, well, Lucretia assumed she had, anyway. She seemed to saunter most places.

“Lydia! I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you coming.” Lucretia dropped the flower, letting it settle back into place. Her smile disappeared as the realization hit her. “Oh - _shit_.”

“Wow. Sorry I came.”

“No, wait, that’s not - not you, I didn’t mean-”Lydia just watched her, unblinking, until Lucretia stopped and took a breath. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it at you. I just - I wanted to surprise you, when they came in.”

“What?” Lydia glanced at the bush. “What, the flowers?”

“Yes! I’ve been anxious about them for weeks, I was starting to think they might not come in at all.” Lucretia twisted her hands in her skirt.

Lydia gave her a blank look. “I mean, they’re pretty? The color’s nice, I do like purple.”

That was it? That was all she had? Lucretia’s face fell. “Oh.”

“What? You look like I kicked your dog or something.”

“I just - you know what, nothing. It’s fine.” Lydia didn’t _have_ to get all excited about it. She hadn’t asked Lucretia to do this, Lucretia had just been so pleased with herself for thinking of it and so _sure_ -

“Nope,” Lydia’s hand was suddenly on her arm, stopping her from pulling away. “You’re not running off to go hide from me or whatever you plan to do right now. You’re telling me what’s going on.”

Lucretia was so tense she could feel a headache coming on. “I don’t- it’s just- it’s just that the nightshade was so hard to take care of, I thought it would be - nice, to bring you to see it when it finally bloomed, you know, something to help you feel at home, but then you just showed up here before I could do anything and I guess it’s not really as - as impressive as I thought it would be-”

“Wait,” Lydia broke in. “Feel at home?”

Lucretia nodded. “I remembered you said you grew it, and I thought - the garden’s mine, and Magnus’, and I know you don’t have any interest in _working_ in it but I thought - it can be yours too, if you want, so I got a bush to plant for you-”She broke off as Lydia snorted - then started _laughing_ . “What’s so _funny_?” she demanded, pulling out of her hold and drawing herself up defensively.

“Fuck - holy shit, Lucretia, I didn’t think-”Lydia started laughing again. “I was _lying_.”

“What?” Lucretia stared at her.

“I made that up because I was trying to get on your nerves, I’ve never actually seen nightshade in my _life_ , I can’t believe this whole time - god, that’s adorable.” She grinned down at Lucretia. For her part, Lucretia didn’t know what to do with her face, so she settled for just staring. Lydia slid an arm around her waist and guided her over to the bench.

“This whole time...I thought you just hadn’t brought it up because you didn’t feel like talking about it.”

“I had no idea what you were doing.” Lydia glanced at the nightshade. “It’s a very nice bush, though.”

Lucretia groaned and buried her face in her hands. “I thought I was doing something _nice_ for you,” she said plaintively.

Lydia pulled her hands away from her face. “Hey, come on. It was nice. It just didn’t mean what you thought it did.”

“That’s not as helpful as you think it is.”

“That’s because I’m not helpful.” She put her arm around Lucretia again. “Look, I’m not - a nice person. Obviously. But you’re sweet, and - I like that. I like that you went to all this trouble to do something you thought would make me happy.” She paused. “Look, I’m not going to pretend I’m ever going to turn into some sugary fairytale queen for you. But, you know what? I do like you, and, well, you’re kind of stuck with me anyway-“

“I like you too,” Lucretia broke in. “I mean, _I’m_ not going to pretend you were what I was expecting, or, you know, daydreamed about. But - I think I like what I did get.” She lifted a hand, hesitated, then placed it on Lydia’s and offered her a shy smile. “Maybe not at first. But I do now, anyway.”

“Well, duh, I mean look at me. I’m pretty much the whole package.” Lydia smirked. Lucretia rolled her eyes, but she had to fight a smile regardless.

“Are you going to ruin _every_ attempt I make at having heartfelt conversations for the _whole_ length of our marriage?”

“Probably.” Lydia’s face softened a little, and she turned her hand over to take Lucretia’s. Then she lifted it, eyes fixed on Lucretia’s, and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. Lucretia’s breath caught in her throat, and she stared back, too transfixed to move. Lydia pulled away, smirking again, and as Lucretia kept staring, she cleared her throat. “You okay there, Luc?”

Lucretia startled a little, snapping back to focus. “Yes - I, uh - yeah, I’m fine. Great. It’s, um-”She broke off as Lydia gave her a smug look.

“I’ll give you this, you’re really good for my ego.”

Lucretia huffed, scooting closer on the bench. “Very funny.”

“Who’s joking?” Lydia’s hold on her tightened as she slid closer, till their hips pressed together and Lucretia had to tip her head back to look up at her. Lucretia put her free hand on Lydia’s arm, studying her face. Lydia’s eyes darted down for a second, and it was Lucretia’s turn to smirk.

“Hey,” she said softly. “Guess what?”

“What?”

“I really want to kiss you right now.” The surprise only showed for a second, but it was long enough for Lucretia to grin triumphantly at her. Lydia narrowed her eyes, and then her hand was at the back of Lucretia’s head, pulling her in to meet Lydia’s lips. Lucretia giggled, the sound muffled. She put her arms around Lydia’s neck and leaned up into the kiss, savoring the feeling of warm hands on her, holding her.

It was uncomfortable to keep stretching over from beside Lydia, so Lucretia broke the kiss just long enough to climb into her lap, straddling her. Eyes bright, Lydia pulled her close, pressing her into her chest, and Lucretia kissed her again, soft and sweet. She cupped Lydia’s face in one hand, thumb brushing gently over her cheekbone. Fingers trailed down her spine to rest at the back of her waist, a hand cupped the back of her head to run through her hair, and she could’ve purred, laying her free hand on Lydia’s forearm.

They separated again, staying so close together their breath mingled, for just long enough.

“Can I-”

" _Yes_.”

Lucretia all but pounced on Lydia, their lips meeting again eagerly, and she stopped thinking altogether. Lydia was beautiful, and she was Lucretia’s, and she _wanted_ Lucretia-

“Hey Luc, have you seen my-”

They sprang apart, startled, and Lucretia twisted around to see Magnus clap his hands over his eyes. “ _Magnus_!”

“Whoa, whoops, _totally_ didn’t even know she was here, who would’ve guessed?” He turned his back.

Lucretia pushed herself off of Lydia, face burning. “I can _not_ believe you-”

“Sorry, sorry - hey, way to go though Luc-”

“I will personally execute you-”

“Alright, alright, I’ll wait outside! Hands over my ears and everything.”

“You’re the _worst_!” Lucretia called after him. Lydia patted her shoulder.

“If I didn’t know he was your brother before, I would now,” she remarked casually. “You don’t intimidate him at all.”

“Sometimes I wish I _did_ ,” Lucretia grumbled.

“I guess this means making out more is off the table?”

“When Magnus is twenty feet away and almost certainly eavesdropping and ready to interrupt us again? Definitely.” Lucretia groaned and let her face fall forward onto Lydia’s shoulder. “This is the worst.”

“Is he turning into the protective big brother now? It’s pretty late to get to that point. We’re _engaged ._ ”

“He’s supposed to be a chaperone, technically, propriety and all,” Lucretia mumbled into Lydia’s shoulder.

“He disappears and leaves us unsupervised an awful lot for a chaperone.”

“He’s also a romantic who’s been wanting me to fall in love with you since day one.”Lucretia sat up, suddenly aware that she hadn’t meant to use _that_ word just yet. She glanced up at Lydia through her lashes, as subtly as she could, to see her response.

Lydia just shook her head and wrapped an arm around Lucretia’s waist. “Well, I don’t know about day one, but we’ve got time.”

This time when that knowing smile was directed at her, Lucretia’s pulse quickened, and she smiled back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have some other things that need to be written to meet a deadline in May, so the next chapter is probably going to be delayed. With luck, though, the break will help me make the rest of the fic even better!


End file.
